Empty truths and razor lies
by RandomDarkness
Summary: The higher you climb, the further you can fall. The happier you are, the further you can be dragged into madness. With the revelation of his true parentage and the powerful fear of being alone forever, Loki, predictably, makes all the wrong choices. Starts with Thor and progresses through Avengers, eventually it'll cover Dark World as well. Rating for lemons
1. Chapter 1

_My people retreated below the mountains to make way for the children. We were too far beyond them, too much apart, and in our presence all they could ever be was babes. So we withdrew, and my father became known as the King under the mountain... mighty Tyr, the Lord of the Dannan's. But it's cold under the mountain, and all the Dannan's cunning and love of beauty could not replace the warmth of the sun, nor the feel of the breeze... and Tyr looked on the face of his infant daughter and wept that he had closed the earth over them._

_So it was, at the age of eight, I was sent to foster, in a realm where I could see the sun. Where I could play in the grass and know the ways of other peoples. The Allfather never smiled, and he introduced me to his household as one might explain a new device. It was Frigga who hurried down the stairs and caught me up in her arms. Having never known my own mother, this grandly dressed woman seemed a spirit to me. Something made from love and affection and she was glad to shower me with such._

_She knelt, and introduced me to her two sons. A thin, dark haired boy with shy, serious eyes, and a broad shouldered lad of light colouring whose eyes said quite plainly that he'd never been afraid of anything. They were older than me, by several years. Enough that I was of little consequence to them beyond the curiosity of the unfamiliar. They played with blunt swords and dulled spears, and I longed so much to join them... but that's not the way of Asgard. At home, I would have learned weapons along side the boys, we were all expected to be competent, but the Allfather wouldn't hear of it. So I was dressed in robes both soft and beautiful, and made a spectator of life while my foster brothers were taught to be warriors._

"Father wont like you touching that," Loki said when he found Cerridwren late one evening, practising with a short sword in one of the training rooms.

"Are you going to report me, dear one?"

He maintained his stony face for a moment, but in the end, his grin won out and he closed the door behind him. "Of course not. Though if he sees you it'll be both of us receiving his ire."

"I don't believe my father meant me to become a pretty flower, good for nothing but decoration and dancing." She told him earnestly. "One day I will have to go home. Be Queen under the mountain... what will my people think of me, Loki?"

"They will think you beautiful, and kind. Gentle as velvet's kiss on the surface..." he pulled out his own sword and clanged it loudly against hers. "With steel beneath."

"You flatter me."

"Do I?" He attacked, a series of over-handed blows. "You don't hold that like a courtly lady."

"And you've been spending time with courtly ladies have you?" She laughed.

"You know better than that, little bird. They're a casual entertainment at banquet, nothing more." He spun and attacked again, forcing her to counter.

"You speak so of such fine women?"

He laughed and the swords jammed up against one another. Cerridwren's muscles bunched tight against the long sleeves of her dress and sweat stood out on her brow. They both knew he was stronger, but he didn't over power her. "Ha. Not a one of them can answer riddles like the future Queen under the mountain."

"Are you saying you only love me for my brain?" She laughed and tried to shove him back, but he'd set his feet and braced himself against her weight.

His brows furrowed slightly and his eyes bored into her face, and Wren saw something in his expression both welcome and entirely unfamiliar. Slowly, she felt the pressure of his weight lessen against her blade, and she relaxed in time with him until they were simply standing. Their blades merely resting against each other, their faces quite close together. "Loki..."

There are a significant crash somewhere down the hall, and Wren almost jumped from her skin at the sound. Without thought, Loki spun, sword held forward and an arm flung out to keep her behind him.

"Brother! Sister! Cease your reading can come revel with us!" Thor's voice boomed through the halls.

Loki's breath exploded from his chest in a relieved gasp although, for the first time in his life, he hated his brother just a bit, even as he blessed him for the interruption. Wren quickly put her sword back on the weapons rack, not meeting Loki's eyes. "We should..." she nodded towards the door while he sheathed his sword.

"Yes... he's been like that for hours now. You know how battle makes him."

She ducked out and held the door open for him. As it swung shut, the sound of Thor thundering through the halls looking for them grew louder.

"Ah! Brother! Sister! There you are! Come," he slung one massive arm around Wren's shoulders almost driving her to her knees, and then the other around Loki's. His brother took as much of his weight as he could and Wren looked at the larger brother fondly.

"You're a mess, _cariad_." She told him with a smile.

"Indeed, and you are not. This will not do, it cannot stand," he stumbled slightly and the others laughed.

"You mean to say _you_ can not stand, brother." Loki laughed.

"You... you were glorious in battle brother." Thor let go of Wren to slap his massive hand against Loki's chest drunkenly. "Saved my life, you know?" He said to Wren with a huge smile. "Yes. Brought glory to our house!"

"Of that I have no doubt." She said gently as she pried his huge hand from Loki's chest and slung his arm about around her shoulders so they could walk him back to the hall. "Honestly brother, one day you'll come back from a battle and not drink yourself silly... and the Allfather will crack a smile and Loki will be serious all day."

Thor hugged her against his side and laughed loudly. "I adore you, baby sister!" he announced and kissed her forehead noisily.

"Yes _cariad_, I know." She stopped them and looked across the drunken warrior to Loki and nodded her head towards Thor's quarters. Loki glanced at his brother and nodded. They changed direction without saying a word.

"Do not think I am unaware of your designs." Thor grumbled.

They guided him to his room and Loki shoved him onto his bed while Wren knelt and tugged off his boots. "There, at least you wont track beer and muck into your bed." She rose and hauled a blanket over him. "Do you need some water?" She asked.

Thor still looked slightly petulant, but he nodded and she kissed his forehead before fetching him a tall glass of water and a full jug for beside his bed. "You dote upon me like an infant."

"When you're drunk you have as much care for yourself as an infant." She said and smoothed his hair. "Sleep. I'll have tonic ready for you in the morning, you great Asgardian oaf."

"Tiny Dannan girl." He growled, already half asleep.

Loki was holding the door open for her when she turned and left. He pushed it shut behind them and they walked in silence towards Wren's rooms. A few times, Wren thought she felt his fingers graze hers as they walked, and the urge to hake his and and simply walk like that was quite strong. They used to walk hand in hand as children, she remembered, and for the life of her couldn't think of when or why they'd stopped.

"You should be a healer, the way you tend to him." Loki said after a while.

"I can't help it, he's so hopeless." She glanced at him, ready to share a knowing smile, but Loki wasn't smiling... "rolling Thor into bed and tending his inevitable morning ailments is the closest I get to having responsibility."

"You love him a great deal." It was almost an accusation. "Everyone does I suppose."

"Loki..." She reached out and took his elbow. "Whatever may be true of others... you are not in competition with your brother for my affection." She tugged on his elbow until he looked down at her, his face was still stony and reserved. She hated it when he looked at her like that. "Thor knows this... do you think for a moment, if there were something there, that he would allow himself to appear so unseemly in my presence? Of course not. He's like his brother... too proud ever to allow a woman to see him thus, but I'm not a woman to him, nor he a man to me. He is my brother."

"And what then does that make me?" Loki asked, intent still on maintaining his injured pride.

"... a fool, apparently." She dropped her hand from his elbow and walked into her rooms and turned to close the door, but Loki's hand on it stopped her.

"A fool...?"

"A fool, dear one." She looked up and him, her hand still on the door. "You and Thor rush off to battle at the slightest provocation... and it is I who sits here and awaits your return. I who choke on my own fears until bifrost brings you back again, covered in blood and Gods know what. And it is not Thor's helm I search for in the shadows that cross the rainbow bridge towards the city..."

"You never said,"

"Neither did you." She countered.

His eyes softened somewhat and the small, naughty boy smile began to appear at the corner of his mouth again. Slowly, so as not to throw her balance, he took his hand from the door, and bowed deeply to her. With eyes which danced in mischief, he gazed upon her face for a moment and she blushed and smiled back. "Goodnight little bird... sweet dreams."

"And you, my dear one." She curtsied and when he stepped back she slowly pushed the door closed.

Once it clicked shut, she spun and pressed her back against it, covered her face with her hands to muffle the sound and squealed until her face was red. Beyond the door, Loki stood and grinned for a long time as he listened to her squeaking and jumping. When at last she was quiet again, he turned and walked towards his own rooms. In the morning, Thor would have a pounding head and shaking hands, and he would share a knowing smile with Cerridwren, and everything would be perfect... all was in readiness for his brother's coronation.


	2. Chapter 2

Wren was up with the sun, the promised tonic in hand as she made her way to Thor's quarters. She didn't bother knocking, he'd never respond. Instead she shouldered the heavy door open and began getting things ready. His freshly cleaned cloak and polished armour she placed over a chair, and the carried the foul smelling tonic to is bedside.

"Up you get, brother. If memory serves, someone is supposed to become King today..." She poked the lump of blankets with a forefinger and the mass underneath moaned and twitched. "Come on, Thor, drink your tonic."

"It's foul, you evil, sadistic woman." Came from beneath the covers.

"You knew this yesterday." She placed the glass on his bedside table and yanked the covers back.

A somewhat pathetic looking Thor, hair unkempt and face pallid, curled in the middle of the bed and cringed from the light. "Ah!"

"I've left you as long as I can, _cariad_. You must get up, drink this, and clean yourself. I promise by the time you've fixed you hair and beard you'll be feeling better." She coaxed.

"I will have emptied my stomach into the flower box, you mean?"

"Quite likely, but you will feel better." She sat on the edge of the bed and stroked his hair. With a despairing groan he curled around her and put his head in her lap. "Poor brother... life is so hard..." She smiled and picked up his tonic. "Come on, close your eyes and think of battle."

"Think of vomit," her grumbled, but allowed her to pressed the glass into his hand, and righted himself enough to screw his eyes shut and down the concoction. "Gods! These are getting worse! What do you put in them?"

"Old Dannan magic, brimstone and rage." She smiled as he shook his head.

"Witch woman. Alright, the future King of Asgard needs breakfast... and water to wash in."

"It's all taken care of." She stood and walked to the door.

"You do take good care of me, little sister, how will I ever find a Queen to rival you?"

"Best not to try, _cariad_, you will only be disappointed." Her eyes sparkled and she blushed slightly. "And unfortunately for you, it seems this particular Queen is spoken for..."

Thor chuckled to himself as she pulled the door closed behind her. "Well it's about time."

Frigga smiled at Wren when she arrived to escort the Queen down to the coronation. It was apparent that her foster daughter had put a great deal of effort into her appearance, her long dark hair elaborately braided, the tribal warrior markings painted onto her face in a dark shimmering purple matched to the trimming on her lavender gown.

"You look lovely dear," she said with a smile, though her eyes lingered on the markings... Odin wouldn't like it.

"It's a special day. My brother is being crowned King of Asgard, and I am the only representative of the Dannan's here... today I must be both sister and diplomat, must I not?" Wren asked.

"Indeed dear." Frigga couldn't fault her, though she knew that Odin liked no reminders of his foster daughter's other-worldly origins.

It wasn't that he was cold, she knew, quite the opposite, he adored his tiny Dannan daughter. Her wide-eyed optimism and her easy, open affection which was the natural way of her kind. Asgardian's can be cool, aloof, even with each other, but knowing none of this the little princess would as a child, wander into the throne room and clamber up onto Odin's lap in the middle of an audience as though this were perfectly normal. The Allfather would pretend disdain for such actions and admonish her... but he never sent her away.

"Is Thor ready?" She asked after a long pause.

"I woke him an hour ago, he's been fed and watered. By now I would imagine his stomach has rejected everything is was given and his hands have stopped shaking."

Frigga shook her head. Her ever enthusiastic son had little sense of propriety, a failing she had lamented for a long time, but it was impossible not to love him. "You are a treasure, Cerridwren. No one else can rouse him to the semblance of dignity as you can."

"The trick is to just keep talking, eventually he does as I ask just to get me to be quite."

The women laughed, and Frigga gave her foster daughter a knowing look before asking innocently, "Is Loki prepared? Dressed and ready?"

"I imagine so," Wren said, trying to hide her blush by examining a vase of flowers. "He is quite skilled at pomp and ceremony."

"But you did not check on him this morning as you did Thor?"

"Why would I?" Wren asked and turns to look at the Queen. "Thor can hardly find his breakfast after a celebration without help... Loki, well... Loki never needs anyone, does he?" She turned away again, embarrassed at the emotion in her voice.

"I wouldn't say that, my dear... I wouldn't say that at all." Frigga, Queen of Asgard, moved to stand behind her and wrapped her around around her. Wren sighed and leaned her slight weight back against the Queen... this had always been her safe place.

"Have I been foolish?"

"No, my darling. The heart wants what it wants... and I have always been proud to have you in our family."

They remained in a close embrace for some time. Wren cried a little, having never known her own mother, the love and approval of Frigga was incredibly important to her. Eventually there was a soft knock at the door, and Loki's head popped in. "It is time..." He stopped when he saw them, his brow furrowed deeply and his eyes questioning.

"We will be right along, Loki. I just have to fix Wren's markings..." she used her finger tips to carefully wipe away where the mark has smeared. "There... doesn't she look beautiful?"

"Always." Loki opened the door the rest of the way and held out his arms. His mother, who smiled like a woman with a secret, took one arm, and Wren, who blushed deeply and gazed intently at his shoes rather than his face, took the other. "The King himself does not have so enviable an escort."

Odin said nothing as his family entered the great hall and assembled before the throne. Frigga and Loki took their place in the assembled honor guard which spread out from the throne, down the steps. Wren, her chin raised against the whispered surprise expressed by some of the assembled at her mode of dress, stood behind them, her eyes alternately looking for Thor in the entryway, and watching the back of Loki's helmet...

Finally, the crowd erupted in excitement as Thor entered. His arms were raised, his smile beamed, and all traces of his previous indisposition had disappeared. Loki glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes at Wren, who grinned back. Frigga caught herself before she chuckled, but only just. Wren's eyes glazed over slightly, these Asgardian's were quite enamoured of their pomp and circumstance. She had not the attention span for it, and instead found herself thinking about the night before. Loki finding her training with the sword. The moment they had shared, interrupted by Thor's drunken yelling. Then the discussion at her door... the way his expression had changed, that twinkle he got in his eye, the same one that always appeared right before something ruinous and fun happened.

Thor and Odin were involved in the call and response part of the ritual, but there seemed to be a pause and Wren's blood ran cold... something was wrong...

"Frost Giants." The Allfather hissed.

The great hall fall into a stunned silence, and Thor lurched to his feet. Loki's shoulders tightened in front of her and Wren moved forward and touched his elbow. "I can feel them..." She breathed. He blinked at her for a moment, but his father and brother were already moving and he would have to hurry to keep up with them.

"I'll be back," he said quickly and made to leave. Wren watched for a heartbeat and then, screwing up her courage, she lifted the skirts of her dress slightly and hurried after him. "Wren! Father is in no mood for games."

"Most of my family is running _towards_ frost giants! I am done sitting in the dark waiting for heart-break!" She hissed.

She had to take two steps for each of his strides, and the effort of the half run wearing a heavy layered dress had started to show by the time they reached the vault. Odin had never looked round, and the door was open and he and Thor across the threshold when Loki and Wren arrived. "Stay back a ways at least," Lokie said as he moved in front of her.

"I do not need _protection_, Loki!"

"And I am not protecting you," he flashed a quick smirk. "Not from frost giants anyway, against whom I swear I believe you can hold your own. I am shielding you from father's gaze..." He turned, and his green cloak flared dramatically, effectively hiding her from view. "Do try not to tread on it, wont you." He said over his shoulder.

Wren grinned broadly, the effect of the warrior markings on her face which made the expression seem fierce rather than joyful. When they entered the vault, Odin and Thor were arguing.

"But you're not King! Not yet!" Odin bellowed.

Loki and Wren stopped, transfixed by the Allfather's anger, both wondered if perhaps this had been a spectacularly bad time to test provoke his temper... Thor stormed off in a rage, and the Allfather followed while Wren and Loki moved quickly to the side and stared down at their shoes. At the top of the stairs Odin paused, "Do not presume for a moment that the two of you escaped my notice." He growled without a backward glance, and then he was gone.

Two explosive breaths were released once he was gone, and Wren leaned sideways against Loki's shoulder, "I thought I was in for it, then!" She gasped. When she looked up, Loki wore as stunned an expression as she, but as the knowledge of their near escape set in, that twinkle in his eye became more pronounced until, unable to stand it any longer, she let out a short, manic laugh, and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you!"

His arms went about her waist to take her weight and he shook his head. "Thank me? I've likely landed us both in the pits now. I've never seen him so angry... and Thor..."

Carefully, he lowered her until her feet touched the ground again and looked at her seriously. "His pride will be stinging terribly now... and worse, I lay money on the barrel the Allfather will not simply perform to coronation tomorrow..." She bit her bottom lip. "He's going to do something stupid isn't he?"

"I'll talk to him," Loki promised, "and if that fails, I'll ask you to talk to him... he can deny you nothing." His arms were still securely around her and she leaned comfortably against his chest.

"Perhaps I should talk to Frigga?" She suggested. It wasn't that she wasn't acutely aware of their proximity... the fact he hadn't let her go, the fact the she leaned so tightly against him, but if he was going to act as though it were perfectly normal, then so was she. "She will know what to do."

"Alright. I will go to Thor, and attempt to sooth his bruised ego, you go to mother. I will come and find you in an hour." Wren nodded, but when neither moved, she began to blush again. "_That _is becoming a habit, little bird..." She bit her lip and hid her face by looking down at his chest. "I don't ever recall you being lost for words before..."

"The last time you put your arms around me, you were 16, and I was 12..." She glanced up at him but looked away again. "It wasn't the same."

"No... I suppose it wasn't." He took a deep breath, as though about to launch into something requiring courage. Instead, he huffed it out again and pressed his forehead against hers for a moment and growled. "To my unbelievable regret, there is not the time at this exact moment to pursue this matter further... but we will, little bird. My word on it." He kissed her nose lightly and gently pushed her towards the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

In her private apartments, Frigga paced back and forth. She wrung her hands and stopped to stare out the window often with a furrowed brow. When she heard Wren knock softly and call her name through the door, she hurried over to open it.

"Oh my darling! I was so worried!" The Queen put her arms around her foster daughter and hugged her tightly. "When you ran off after the boys, I just..."

"Frigga something terrible happened! There were Frost Giants in the vault and Thor and the Allfather have had a terrible row. The Allfather left, and Thor is in a terrible temper, I just know he's going to do something foolish."

To Wren's surprise, Frigga swore under her breath. "Where is Thor now?"

"Loki has gone to speak with him, he's going to try to calm him down."

"Perhaps you should go and find them dear, Thor has always been hot headed and is like to say things he doesn't mean, but he would never raise his voice to you." She patted Wren's shoulder gently. "You have quite a way with my boys, they love you very much, each in his own way."

"Loki said he 'd come and find me..."

"Don't wait. I love Loki dearly, but he has a needling nature and one wrong word now could set his brother off." She gave Wren a brave smile. "Men inevitably think they can sort everything out themselves, they are almost always wrong. The truth is that Loki should have come to me, and you gone to Thor... but I think it stings Loki greatly, the closeness you have with his brother."

"It... we have... Last night we quarrelled about it. I think. I don't even know if it was a quarrel. He makes me so frustrated and angry, and yet,"

"I'm so sorry my darling, and I do want to talk to you about this, I have only been waiting for you to bring it up, but now we have no time. Go to Thor, calm him and entreat him to a peace. I will have to go to Odin and mollify his anger. In truth he's as likely to behave rashly as his son, though he'd never admit it." Frigga apologised and ushered Wren from the room.

There was a great deal of movement in the small hall favoured by Thor and his friends. When Wren pushed the doors open she could see food and table setting scattered about the floor and the table upturned. Her hand went to her mouth and for a moment she was horrified by the possibility that there had been more Frost Giants, that they had come for the sons of Odin while she reported to Frigga, but then she saw Thor standing in the wreckage giving some kind of speech and realised she wasn't looking at the aftermath of a battle, but of his impotent rage.

Thor cut off his speech when he saw her, and nodded to the others, who filed out around her with respectfully lowered eyes.

"Little sister." Thor greeted her far too cheerfully for her liking. Behind him, in the shadows, Loki stood, his expression deeply troubled. "You gave father almost as much grief today as I did, it seems."

"Don't make light of this Thor, and don't you dare turn into your father and starting thinking I am nothing more than a decoration! I can see the shadow of whatever foolishness you're planning in your eyes." She crossed the room and waved her finger at him.

"Wren, Everything will be fine,"

"Don't you dare open your mouth simply to lie to me!" She yelled, her voice cracking into an unseemly screech. "I'm begging you, brother... whatever it is you're thinking, don't do it. Frigga has gone to speak with the Allfather, she will smooth this over but you must let her."

Thor's face had darkened and he took a hold of her shoulders in his massive hands. "I have loved you like a sister from the moment you came into our lives, a loud and unrelentingly happy little bird, but I tell you now I have responsibilities here which you can not understand..." he said.

Behind him, Loki bit down on his fist, his eyes wide at the storm of anger he knew his brother had just stirred.

"You condescending, egotistical, meat head! You haven't loved me like a sister, you've loved me like a pet! A mascot! Gods help me, a nurse maid! I am the heir to the Dannan throne, and I am just as aware of my responsibilities as you are Odinson!" As her vice rose in volume she stepped in close and yelled up into Thor's surprised face. "It is I who take my responsibilities seriously, it is I who is left to sooth the bruises your brashness leaves and so help me, it is apparently I who am the only one prepared to say what everyone can now see perfectly clearly!" She stopped, and her voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "You are exactly like your father... you deserve each other."

She turned then and stormed from the room, her face flaming. The purple warriors marks gave her a ferocious appearance as she slammed the door behind her. Loki turned to look out over the balcony... the sea was churning angrily, and dark, ominous storm clouds boiled in the sky. "Congratulations brother, I don't think anyone has ever made her that angry before..."

"Hold your tongue!" Thor snapped, but then he too turned and looked out over the balcony. "Gods..."

"You're lucky she loves you," Loki said quietly, "there are candles in this room... I believe she might have set a lesser man on fire for speaking to her that way."

Thor watched as the sea began to calm, but the storm clouds, once formed, were not so quick to dissipate. "We have never been at odds before." Thor said softly. "Not once, since the day she arrived."

"You are not at odds now, if you would only reconsider this plan." Loki said in earnest. "She is right. Mother will speak to father, she will calm him and within a week, things will have returned to normal!"

"You know I can not. We have no way of knowing what the Frost Giants are planning. We must at least investigate, if not retaliate."

"Alright, investigate then." Loki said, "but calmly. With discretion. You can not run an investigation with a hammer..."

Thor nodded slowly, but there was a light behind his eyes which led Loki to believe that he was thinking otherwise... and intended to prove it.

Loki managed to slip away from the others on the pretext of fetching his weapons from his quarters. It didn't take him long to find Wren in the same, out-of-the-way training room, working with a short sword such that he thought the training dummy might shatter. She spun, sword lowered and ready for a fight, when she heard him enter. Loki put his hands up in surrender.

"You know he did not mean it..." he started but she brandished the sword at him and he closed his mouth again.

"Didn't he? Really? Are you honestly going to stand there and tell me that Thor sees anything but a glorified nursemaid when he looks at me?" She hissed. "I was a fool to think he saw any different! I have been a fool to think if I played my part, if I was patient, my life would change. I have spent my life scratching and clawing at the inside of this part they make me play and this... this was it. I have loved him like a brother and he never took me seriously!"

"Wren..." he moved forward slowly with his hands out in front of him. He glanced to the side and saw that the candle flames liking the walls had more than tripled in size, and it had become uncomfortably warm. "Please, you must calm yourself..." he nodded to the candles. "I know you have the power to burn this place to the ground... and I know that if you do, you'll break your own heart."

She looked at him defiantly over the point of her sword for a moment, then allowed it to fall from her numb fingers and hunched her shoulders, completely defeated. He closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I feel so... so stupid, and angry..." she mumbled into his chest.

"Because you are sweet, and love fiercely... and because Thor has never lost his temper with you before. Having been on the receiving end of his ire on more than one occasion I can, with some authority, tell you he meant none of it." He stroked her hair gently. "You know it pains me to admit it, but you and Thor have always been as twins, and he loves you dearly."

"He loves a little girl in a stupid dress who can not fight her own battles." She sighed and turned her head so she could rest her cheek against his chest. "No more, Loki... I wont live like this any more."

Loki frowned down at her. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, and one hand found her face and tilted it up so he could see her eyes. "You wouldn't leave us, would you? Not... not _now_."

She stared up at him for a long moment and shook her head. "No my dear one... I suppose not." She sighed.

"How can I make you glad to stay...?"

"Will... would you teach me?" She asked shyly.

"The sword?"

"And whatever else we can find. My people are warriors Loki. My father fought the Fir Bolg and locked them away to protect the children. My mother died in battle not long after I was born, defending our home. I cannot go back to them like _this_."

Loki watched her, transfixed by the passion with which she spoke... he'd never been that passionate about anything. "That's all? Teach you to fight, and you'll be happy...?"

The blush returned, burned up her cheeks and down her neck. She fumbled at her back and found one of his hands, laced their fingers together and brought it to her lips. Loki stopped breathing as he watched her, his grip uncomfortably tight, but he couldn't seem to loosen it. When she raised her eyes to his again he made a pathetic, strangled noise, tugged her tight against his chest and kissed her desperately. Wren had never kissed anyone before... not really. Nothing more than a peck, the brief brush of lips, nothing at all like this. The candles flared up again, and wind rattled the windows as she wrapped her arm around his neck, her other hand still clutched tight in his. She bunched her fingers in his cloak and he use the arm around her to lift her off her feet.

He broke away, struggled to breathe, to gather his thoughts, to remember what it was he was supposed to be doing. "Thor!" He blurted.

Wren blinked at him in a daze. "... all this time it was you who thought my affections lay somewhere else..."

"No, he's... damn. Damn him. He's going to do something stupid." He kissed her quickly and then held her at arms length. "He plans to go after the Frost Giants, to 'investigate' though we both know what he means by that."

"You must stop him!"

"I can't! His mind is set, you saw him! All his life he has never once lost his temper with you, his ego has taken more than it can bear."

"Then what do you suggest? You cannot simply go to Jotenheim, Loki, they'll kill you!" She gripped his forearms tight.

"I must... he cannot go alone." He cast around, looking for a solution... "Go to mother. Once I'm gone, go to mother and tell her everything."

"But she'll go to the Allfather, he'll be..."

"Angry, yes, but he will put a stop to it. He might we wroth with Thor for a while but at least the brute will still be alive." He gathered her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. "Wait until I'm gone, five minutes but no more."

Wren looked torn, her eyes brimmed with tears. "... Thor will never forgive me..."

"That is ridiculous. He'll forgive you instantly, I on the other hand am likely to be on the outs for some time. I used my influence over you to get to you do it, it's me he'll blame, not you." He kissed her forehead.

"Come back to me..." She said softly as he pulled away.

"Always."

Once he was gone, there was nothing for Wren to do but count, slowly, until the five minutes had passed. Enough time for them to leave the palace? Enough time to reach Hymdall? To cross the bifrost? What if she waited too long? She shook herself, Loki had said five minutes, he no doubt wanted to try to head this off himself, avoid having to tell the Allfather at all. Finally, an eternity of heartbeats set her free and she hiked up her skirts and ran to Frigga's quarters.

"The Queen is not within." One of the guards told her, a frown on his face at her dishevelled appearance.

"What? Where is she?" Wren demanded, politeness and propriety forgotten.

"In audience with the Allfather."

She didn't want for further explanation, but spun and ran off again. Purple skirts threatened to tangle her legs and trip her up, and her intricate braids had begun to unravel. It took her an extra 10 minutes to find them, and by the time she did, she was hysterical.

"Now is not the time, Cerridwren." Odin said sternly.

"They've gone!" She burst out.

"Gone? Whose gone? Gone where?"

"Thor! He's dragged Loki and the others across the bifrost!" She struggled to catch her breath and Frigga put her arm around the smaller woman. Odin growled and stalked from the room, obviously in a rage. "Oh Gods, have I done the right thing? He's so angry!"

"Of course you have dear, Odin will bring them home. Come, sit." She guided her to a chair and pressed a glass of wine into her hand. "Drink, for the nerves."

"For the _men _you mean." Wren took a gulp and slumped in the chair.

"...We have some time, Wren... if you wanted to talk now." Frigga knelt before her and smiled kindly up at her face.

"I..." Wren took another large gulp, put the glass down and clasped her hands together in her lap. "He... that is to say, we... we kissed..."

A hint of actual happiness showed in Frigga's smile and her put her hand over Wren's. "And...?"

Wren shook her head. "I couldn't breathe. Or maybe I've been holding my breath all my life and this is what it feels like to breathe for the first time?" tears came to her eyes and she lurched forward and wrapped her arms around Frigga's neck. "It's not supposed to be like this! There was no time, and he's had to run after Thor on some fool's errand and if anything happens to him..."

"Shhh... Loki is my cunning son. A great strategist, and survivor." She took Wren's face in her hands and gently pulled her back. "You will see. He will cross the rainbow bridge into the city within the hour, and everything will be alright again."

"And Thor? We had such a row, Frigga. We've never fought before but... he said things which hurt me, and in my anger I hurt him in return. What if... what if I can never make it right?"

"Odin will bring them home, my darling. Nothing can stand before the might of the Allfather. He will drag his sons home, scold them soundly, and we will work to fix all that has been broken." She stroked Wren's hair. "Come, we will walk, as stately ladies, down through the halls, and wait for their return at the cities edge of the bridge."


	4. Chapter 4

Even from the edge of the city, Wren could see the bifrost spin to life. Someone was coming back... Thor's band of warriors trudged the long march along the bridge, but she couldn't see the Allfather or his sons... She and the Queen held hands, each cut off the others circulation in their tension. After an interminable wait, the obvious figure of Odin in his armour emerged, a moment later, a slender figure with dark hair.

Wren let out a relieved moan and almost fell to her knees, but Frigga's eyes stayed fixed on the bifrost... "Thor..." she breathed.

Long moments passed, and Odin approached slowly with still no sign of his heir.

"No..." Wren shook her head and gripped Frigga's hand tighter. "No, he's sulking, that's all. He's angry and his pride is hurt... he doesn't wish to speak yet..."

Thor's companions milled around, unable to meet the Queen's eyes and Odin, who had been taking great angry strides, reached them a moment later.

"Thor?" Frigga asked, barely able to breathe.

"He lives." Odin said shortly and continued on as his Queen clutched at her heart in relief.

At his words, Wren felt the terrible building weight on her chest lift, and she rushed forward, momentarily free from the constraint of grief, and threw herself into Loki's arms. Loki closed his eyes tightly and wrapped his arms around her. "I was so scared!" She hissed. Loki didn't answer. He held on to her, kept his eyes shut and pressed his face into her ruined hair.

Frigga came down to join them, her face still flushed from her fear, but a soft smile growing on her face. "Very nice children..." she said. "Now, where is your brother? I suppose there will be much wrangling now before father and son will speak again."

Loki pulled back from Wren, but kept his arms tight around her. He looked at the woman he'd always believed was his mother and he didn't know what to say. His mouth opened and closed, he shook his head and tried again. "Mother, I... I'm sorry..."

Wren stood on a balcony that overlooked the water. Sad, heavy clouds had gathered over Asgard over the last few hours, and as she wiped tears from her cheeks, a light snow began to drift through the still evening air. She didn't understand how everything had gone so wrong... how could Odin banish his son? How could Thor be so foolish as to go to Jotenheim? How had everything gotten so out of control?

"Are you alright?" Loki asked quietly.

Wren jumped. She hadn't heard him approach, and more than that, there was something in his voice that made her worry for him. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't understand any of this. How did it happen? Where did I go wrong with everything?"

"You can not take responsibility for this, little bird. We have more than enough blame to go around, and precious little of it belongs to you." He moved up and stood behind her, slid his arms around her body and held her back against his chest. "I have no idea what to do now."

There was an unmistakable warmth which spread through his body when she leaned back against him, her head came to rest comfortably against the front of his shoulder. She found his hands and tangled their fingers together and the dizzying mix of elation and fear which flooded him threatened to bowl him over. "Will the Allfather awaken?" She asked.

"I do not know." He tightened his arms around her possessively. "Mother hopes so."

"It must have been so terrible, to see him fall like that, to not be able to do anything..." She tugged his arms more tightly about her. "I'm so sorry, Loki." He pressed his face into her hair and squeezed his eyes closed. For a long time he said nothing as the snow settled on her hair. His arms were uncomfortably tight around her, but she didn't say anything, it seemed he was holding onto her as though afraid he would fall into space if he let go. "Talk to me dear one, what is this about?"

"About?" He asked without opening his eyes.

"I waited hundreds of years for you dear one... you think I don't know when you're acting strangely?" She turned in his arms and looked up at him. "You're... smooth. The silver tongued prince, you always have been. But never with me."

"Were you jealous, little bird?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not especially..." She gave him a shy but knowing smile. "You're like your brother, more than a little. Thor will gladly stumble helpless in my presence. He will drink himself stupid, and crawl from his bed grey skinned and trembling and let me look after him... because he doesn't have to impress me. He has nothing to prove. I've never seen you drunk. I've never seen you ill, or unkempt, or disconcerted... You've been the picture of calm, cool, and collected."

"You're very wise, aren't you?" He asked.

"Ha! Perhaps, just not brave."

"Why do you say that?"

"If I were brave, I'd have kissed you a long time ago," she whispered. "And if I were brave... I wouldn't let you change the subject like this..."

Loki ran his hands up and down her arms. The soft purple velvet was a pleasant distraction from the fact that as much as he might flirt with the idea of telling her the truth, he knew he wouldn't. "What if everything were different? What if I were... were nothing. Not Odinson, just..."

"Loki, you know better than that." She caught his hands and held them together in hers. "I have no interest in Asgard, I couldn't spend my life here even if I did. But this place... it smells strange, and the ground is alien and water not quite right. Even if I weren't the heir to the Mountain, I would have to go home eventually. So," she kissed his knuckles and looked up at him. "Odinson, or gutter boy, makes no difference to me. We don't care about blood, Loki. The next King under the Mountain will be whomever I say it is... Whoever I love and choose."

"Not so powerless then, are you little bird?"

"That remains to be seen."

Loki leaned down until their faces were quite close together. "Oh...?"

"Mmm hmm." she was starting to struggle to form words, and her eyes wouldn't focus.

"How so?"

"I... you kissed me this morning and... and I felt that my heart had never beat before then..." She shook her head, her eyes still glazed. "I could still be a useless girl in a fancy dress, if... if you don't..."

He pulled his hands free of hers, pushed his fingers into her hair and kissed her hungrily. Wren squeaked and grabbed two fistfuls of his tunic. They stumbled and cursed softly on their blind journey back into Wren's rooms, when Loki sat on a couch and pulled her down into his lap. A few times he broke the kiss to look at her, and she tried to think of something intelligent to say, but he would dive back against her lips before she could gather her thoughts.

Long, clever fingers, slightly cool against her skin, slid up her calf under her voluminous dress. The ticklish sensation made her smile against his lips and he grinned as he kissed his way down her neck. His free hand slid from her hair, over her collar bone and downward when it grazed the outside if her breast. Wren gasped and tensed in his arms, her hands moved to grip his shoulders tight.

"Wren..." She cut him off with a kiss and slid her grip to his upper arms. His chuckle was deep and it made her shiver. "You stopped the snow..." He whispered against her lips.

Wren turned and looked over her shoulder and out over the balcony where a brisk wind had broken the heavy clouds and scattered them to reveal the stars. She turned back to him, her eyes slightly wide. "Actually I think _you_ did."

He grinned and kissed her again.


	5. Chapter 5

Wren sighed contentedly when she felt a gentle kiss against her temple. A warm, comfortable weight was snaked over her waist and there was a distinctly pleasant nuzzling going on at her neck. "Mmmm..."

"I thought I should wake you before I go." He murmured against her hair. "I didn't think you'd like waking up to find me gone... though you are thoroughly adorable when you sleep."

"Mmm, stay." She purred as she rolled in his arms and snuggled against his bare chest.

"You know I wish I could... today is," he sighed, "it's not going to be pleasant."

Wren frowned. "Why?"

"With the Allfather sleeping and Thor gone... there is no one to sit the throne but I. I expect my brother's companions will be seeking audience before breakfast to have me overturn fathers edict..."

She opened her eyes and looked up at him sadly. "But you don't think you can... because it was the last thing he did, and if you undo it..."

"Exactly." He smoothed her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. "They will not like being told no."

"No, I don't suppose they will. I'm so sorry, Loki. I want him back too, but I do understand... perhaps you could speak to Hymdell? Make sure Thor is alright? As long as he is safe, which I'm sure he will be, then you don't have to move with unseemly haste." She suggested.

Lokie gazed at her for a moment and then smiled. "I will do just that then." He kissed her nose. "Have I mentioned yet that you are exceedingly wise?"

"You might have said something like that... I still wish you could stay." She snuggled against him suggestively.

"Hmmm, your people may not worry at such things, but I doubt very much the ladies at court will remain polite towards you if they're under the impression that... well... that we..."

"That you violated my maidenly honour? Or perhaps that I took advantage of your grief?" She suggested archly.

"We both know no such thing happened."

"Not for lack of trying," she mumbled and Loki laughed before clambering from the bed before she could pull him back down against her. He'd slept in the soft cotton three-quarter under things he wore to keep his leather armour from rubbing, and she in a plain white shift. "You know... everyone is wrong about you."

"Oh, how so?" He asked as he struggled into his pants.

"I feel quite confident that the general jist of opinion is that you're a bit of a cad... a playboy... that you've never said no in your life..."

"Then that shows what _**they**_ know, doesn't it?" He turned to look at her, still shirtless and with a furrowed brow. "You are not a barmaid to be conquered, little bird. You are a Queen..."

She stared at his face for a while, and he looked right back. "You'd best go if you're going, otherwise I might start issuing edicts of my own."

Loki laughed and moved back to the bed to kiss her warmly before pulling his tunic on. "Helmet? To ostentatious?"

"Wear it. That way you can come straight to the training room this afternoon..." She pointed a regal finger at him.

"As my Queen commands..."

He stopped at the door and looked back at her. She'd moved to sit cross-legged at the foot of the bed and stared right back. "Don't say anything my dear one... you might rupture something." She waved her hand dismissively and Loki gave short chuckle.

"We will get there, you and I."

"Oh, I know. I've been waiting a thousand years for you... I'm not letting you get away now." She smiled as he closed the door and flopped back onto the bed. One arm flung out and she grabbed a pillow, shoved it over her own face and squealed into it with all her might until she was completely breathless.

Outside, Loki stood with his forehead pressed against the door, and listened to the muffled sound of her squeals. The expression he wore made him look incredibly confused, as he half wanted to chuckle, and half wanted to frown. He hadn't told her... he hadn't said anything. This couldn't go on forever... she would find out, and it would all be over. Perhaps if he had kissed her years ago? Perhaps then, but not now... not with so little past behind them. After the noise stopped he pushed himself away from the door and walked towards the throne room.

The day proceeded more or less as expected. Wren stayed in her rooms, unwilling to field questions, condolences or condescension, all of which would be flying thick and fast. She just couldn't face it. It was so terrible, Thor gone and the Allfather unconscious for who knew how long, and poor poor Loki, suddenly trapped in all this responsibility. She felt terrible for not going to the throne room to support him, and had almost convinced herself to do just that, when there was a knock at the door.

"For you, m'lady." The porter handed her a box, turned smartly on his heel and marched away.

Inside was a simple, light set of leather armour in the same style that Wren remembered the women wearing at home... Dannan light armour... The carefully folded note which sat on it read '_Not to suggest that I do not appreciate the fit of your dresses... but the afternoon's activities might be better survived in these.'_

More squealing followed.

In the throne room, Loki sat with his long legs splayed out before him, an elbow rested on the arm and his eyes had begun to glaze over. The day had been nothing but a repetition of the same questions, to which he either had no answers or wanted none. Where was Thor? When would he be allowed to return? When would the Allfather wake? When would the Queen see fit to leave her vigil of him and return to court? Over and over, from everyone who could wrangle entry to the palace... this ruling business could be wildly tedious.

"Ahem. Her Royal Highness, the Princess Cerridwren Battleborn, heir to the throne of the Dannan's." A herald announced.

Loki had installed the man earlier in the day after realising that everyone who could was going to form up to ask him questions and he was tired of not knowing who they were. When she entered, he was amused and gratified to see a number of those assembled double take, both at her title and her dress. She'd worn the dark brown leather armour, leather boots with a heavy sole and strapped across her back were the two curved short swords he happened to know arrived among her belongings when she was eight, and Odin had carefully stored away. Her hair was braided back away from her face, and her eyes shone happily when she looked at him.

She did not curtsy when she reached the base of the stairs, but bowed deeply. "You seem much recovered," he said.

"Yesterday was terrible for us all," she said clearly, "but for none more than yourself and your dear mother. I thought to visit with her, if you'll allow it, and offer my support..."

Loki stood and moved down the stairs so he could kiss each of her cheeks gently. "Thank you," he whispered. "Of course." He spoke louder. "The Queen loves you dearly, and I think she would find great comfort having you with her... as do I."

The tiny, secretive smile she flashed him made him wish it were closer to days end. The pressure she'd taken off him and the fact that her calm acceptance of his position and decisions had effectively muzzled the lower ranking complainers left him all the more impatient to get out of the great hall. "May I tell the Queen you will be joining us soon?" She asked.

"As soon as I have settled everything here." He promised. "There are a great deal of assurances to be made, unfortunately not everyone share's the Dannan's confidence in my abilities..."

"They will, once they have seen them." She put her hands on his upper arms, went up on her toes, and kissed his cheek. He grinned and bowed to her, then turned and trotted back up to the throne with a new energy evident in his steps. When he turned and sat, she bowed to him, backed away two paces as was etiquette, and then turned and left.

Wren knocked softly at the door and a tired, dishevelled Frigga answered. "Oh my darling," the Queen gasped at the sight of her foster daughter and put her arms around her.

"Shh... it will be alright. You will see. The Allfather is made of marble and stubbornness... he will wake grumpy and demand beer with his breakfast." She kissed Frigga's cheek and the Queen gave her a watery smile.

"This is... different." She gestured to Wren's clothing.

"Things are different." Wren looked up at her, for the first time uncertain. "Do you not approve?"

Frigga smiled and cupped Wren's face in her hands. "You have never been the delicate child the Allfather liked to pretend... but he always loved you my darling. You must believe that..." she sighed sadly. "He loved that you were irreverent and affectionate, he could never be that way with his sons..."

"Do you think he'll be angry, when he wakes?"

"No my love. I think he will be sad, because he'll know he cannot keep you, but proud as well..." She looked at Wren seriously then, her keen eyes significantly less glazed with grief. "Now... did my son, by chance, happen to procure this for you?"

Wren blushed and looked away. "He sent them today... I stopped by in the Great Hall before I came here. Poor Loki, everyone is so worried and tense and they want him to make it all right again."

"Well.. with you watching over him, I am confident he will be fine."

"He'll be here soon. I think he's running out of patience with everyone down there..." She smiled sadly and moved over to look down at Odin. "You need to wake up, Allfather. They're smothering your son in mediocrity, and we both know he wont be able to cope with that for long."

"Don't let him hear you say that, my darling, he'll think you don't have faith in him." The Queen warned.

"Loki knows better than that." Wren disagreed. "But he doesn't suffer fools, nor boredom, well, and he would be the first to admit it."

Frigga shook her head and smiled. "You can say things to him without giving offence that the rest of us must skirt carefully... you are a treasure."

Wren smiled and leaned over to kiss the Allfather's cheek lightly. "I know we don't always get along..." she whispered, "but I need you to wake up... please."

A strong, confident knock sounded, and Frigga let Loki in. Their eyes met and Wren saw a great deal of tension there. She knew that this must be a trying time, but something told her it wasn't simply the situation that had them exchanging such significant glances.

"That was fast." Wren said.

"Strangely, having foreign royalty express complete confidence in me seemed to knock most of the wind out of them." He crossed the room and slid an arm around her waist, then kissed her cheek gently. "Thank you..."

"I am not the one who installed a herald to announce everyone as they entered." She laughed.

Loki groaned. "Honestly, I was forgetting everyone's names and titles! Everyone with so much as an ounce of influence has been through today demanding things. The announced arrival of Cerridwren Battleborn, princess of the Dannan's, seemed to completely overwhelm them." He grinned down at her and she blushed. "Why do they call you that?"

"I was born during the Firbolg attack. My father was forced to pull back to the palace... there was fighting in the halls, and my mother gave birth to me in her chambers with a battleaxe beside the bed while my father kept them from us." She wiped at a tear on her cheek. "Once I arrived... she swaddled me, placed me in a sling across her body, took the axe and went looking for my father. They finished that battle together..."

"That is... unbelievable..." Loki said, and gave her a moment to compose herself.

"Great things were expected of me." She smiled sadly.

"Great things are still expected of you. Come along." Loki flicked the hilt of one of her sword slightly and gestured to the door. "Time for training."

"Be gentle with her Loki." Frigga said as Loki make to follow Wren from the room.

"I hardly think that's going to be an issue." He said.

"I hardly think that's what I mean, my love." She countered. Loki looked at her for a long time. "I have faith that everything will come to pass exactly as it should."

"It's easy to believe that when you are already married to the one you love." He said with a certain amount of bitterness in his voice. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and shut the door firmly behind him.

"What a mess we have made, my love," Frigga sighed to her unconscious husband. "But it is always thus... when we think our children weaker than they are." She sat and put her hand on Odin's. "We should have told him the truth from the beginning..."


	6. Chapter 6

The long staff made a high pitched sound as it moved through the air almost faster than Wren could see. He was grinning at her again, and it was distracting as hell. She strove to remember all the things he had said before they started. Keep your weight low, move lightly on the balls of your feet, don't just react, anticipate and move. It swirled around in her head until it was all largely meaningless and all that was left was the feeling of the hilts in her hands and the sight of him circling around her.

She twitched towards his left side, then dropped to one knee and rolled forwards. The move caught his shins with her side and bowled him over. She gasped in surprise, dropped her swords and did a hand spring over him. She landed on his chest and pinned his arms to the floor with her knees, then looked down at him elated. "Got you!"

Loki blinked at her for a moment, then shook his head so his helmet rolled off, closed his eyes and laughed. "That you did, there is no denying!"

"Then Asgard concedes?"

"Oh, Asgard is thoroughly at your mercy... I surrender." The slow, sly grin that formed on his face made her stomach flip.

"Are all Asgardian warriors so quick to accept defeat?" She asked in an attempt to cover how nervous she had suddenly become.

"Perhaps I do not necessarily consider my current state to be particularly undesirable..."

Wren bit her bottom lip and stared down at his cheeky, insolent smile. After what was probably an indecently long time, she realised that neither of them had moved, and something would have to give. With a shake of her head to clear her thoughts, she scooted back slightly which freed his arms and put one palm flat to the floor beside his head to help push herself back up to her feet. She never got the chance, as Loki put his hands on her hips and rolled them until he was hovering over her, the length of his body pressed hers into the floor and she had to battle to keep her breath even.

Unable to think clearly, she stared up at him, her hands moved to his back of their own accord and he settled himself over her comfortably.

"You don't consider this a loss... do you?" He asked jokingly, though there was something in his eyes that begged her to give the right answer.

"No... not a loss..." She arched her neck up to move her face closer to his, and he took the hint and kissed her.

There were gasps and groans as their hands went from tentative and shy to needy and bold. Wren hooked one of her legs up over his thigh and at last Loki pulled himself away from her lips with a unhappy groan. "Not like this." He said, half to himself.

"Loki..."

"I will not have you remember that we lay together for the first time on the floor of a training room... it is," he paused and gazed down at her flushed face. "It is not enough."

She wriggled so she could get her hands to his face and cupped his cheeks gently. "I am here, and you are here..." she gave a slight smile, "and no one else is here. You think I need so much more than I do. I don't need some rose-coloured perfect dream. All I need is you."

Loki groaned and kissed her firmly before he pulled away again. "Indulge me then. Perhaps it is I who require more romance than this?" Wren laughed and hid her face in his shoulder. "What? Do you think I spent all this time practising at being the smooth, unflappable one for nothing?"

"Are you saying you wish to impress me, my dear one?" She asked, muffled into his chest.

"In all things," he admitted, "but this most of all..."

She allowed her head to thump back against the floor and gazed up at him. "I am beyond impressed with you, in all things." He started to object so she put a finger to his lips to stop him. "But since by definition, firsts happen only once, and since you put in _**all **_that practice." She laughed.

"Are you mocking me?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Maybe a little." She admitted.

His brow furrowed deeply and he took his weight on his forearms so he could look down at her. She could see he was duelling with his own tendency towards indignation, and for a moment she wanted to try to smooth things over. Instead she continued to look up at him, the fingers of one hand fiddled nervously with the clasp of his cloak at his left shoulder. When she could stand it no longer, she said "Loki..."

He shook his head and kissed her quickly. "The last few days..."

"I know." She cupped his face gently. "I know... you don't have to be so guarded and... and wary with me. You know that I..."

He kissed her again to silence her. "I know. I _am_ sorry." He sighed and let his forehead rest against hers. "I'm not myself. I am not even certain I know what being myself means anymore..."

"Shh," she whispered. "Everything will be right again. I know it will. Your father will wake and take all this crushing duty from your shoulders. He will eventually relent and allow Thor to return," she smiled. "And then... then we will have nothing but time."

"Time." He sighed and lifted his weight from her. "A long forgotten luxury. Would you really be content with that?"

"What more it there to want?" She asked as she sat up. "Time, and you to spend it with..."

"Sword fighting and adventure apparently." He half laughed.

"Only if you come with me."

"For now, the hour grows late again, and there is, as always now, a long list of things which must come to pass before my time is my own." He got to his feet and offered her his hand.

She took it and let him pull her up. Her eyes darted everywhere, unable to settle on his face. In the end she spoke to their joined hands. "Should I wait up for you...?" She asked shyly.

The pause was unbearably long, and she avoided looking at him. He on the other hand watched her closely, and fought a silent war with himself... To continue without telling her the truth, a truth he himself wished he didn't know, would be tantamount to a betrayal, but if he told her... The look he imagined she would give him would be more than he could bear. The longer they stood, the more uncomfortable the silence became, until Loki realised that the window for a simple answer had long closed, leaving them both standing in the cold.

Eventually, unable to take it any longer, Wren coughed uncomfortably. "I'm sure you'll be very busy. And tired. Very tired. I will see you tomorrow, I'm sure." She stammered and ducked passed him to get to the door.

Loki's hands balled into fists at his sides and he tilted his head back to glare angrily up at the ceiling. "Wren!" He burst out as she was about to disappear through the doorway. She paused with her hands on the door frame. "Please," he said more quietly. "I... if you would," He stopped and groaned at his own sudden inarticulate stammering. "I will try to be no more than an hour."

Wren glanced up at him and a small triumphant smile threatened the corners of her mouth. "Then I will wait for you..." She closed the door quietly and he listened as she walked away.

"Damn!" He hissed, spun and drove his fist into a padded dummy.

During the course of the next hour he resolved not to go. Changed his mind. Resolved again, and talked himself around. All in between plotting the destruction of his own home world... What did Jotenheim matter to him? Hadn't his own father left him to die on a frozen rock? They were monsters. All of them. He looked at himself in the mirror in his quarters and tried to see himself with blue skin and red eyes... the monster that frightens children. The one who would send the women screaming. Would send Wren screaming...

In her own rooms, Wren punched her pillow and tried not to think about the time. An hour had long since passed, but she couldn't quite give up the hope that he would still come. When the door opened she felt the perverse urge to close her eyes and pretend to be asleep, just to see what he'd do, but she propped herself up on her elbow and watched him close the door quietly instead.

"I didn't want to wake you."

"I didn't want to sleep without you..."

As calmly as he could manage, he shrugged out of his heavy leather tunic and lay it over the back of a chair. Wren's eyes never left him as he worked himself out of his pants and put them on the chair as well. Very slowly, as though he expected her to object at any moment, he walked around the bed and slid in behind her. Wren sighed and wriggled back against him while he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest.

"Long day." Wren said softly.

"Incredibly." He agreed.

She closed her eyes when he pressed his face into her hair and breathed deeply. His arms were uncomfortably tight around her, he had made a bit of a habit of that, but again she didn't say anything. In a strange way she felt like she was an anchor, something he held on to when everything else spun away from him. Instead she wrapped her arms over his and held on.

After a while, she felt him kiss her neck tentatively. Unsure how the gesture would be taken. She tilted her head to give him better access and felt his breath huff out against her skin as he took the invitation. One of his hands slid up her stomach to her breast and she gasped and moaned when he cupped it gently. "Wren," he groaned against her ear when she arched herself back against him.

She turned her head enough that he could kiss her, sloppy and completely lacking in finesse, but for the first time she felt that he was being completely honest. His other hand slipped down her body between her legs... Her moan almost buckled what little control he had over himself, convinced as he was that this was his only chance. The only time he'd ever be allowed to be with her. The truth couldn't be hidden forever...

Long, clever fingers bunched her light cotton shift up about her waist and felt cool against her feverish flesh. She reached back, her sweaty hand scrabbled for purchase against the skin of his hip. Time changed, or at least their perception of it. The candles lighting the room flared high and the room became warm, while the fire in the hearth produced too much flame without making a sound... Indeed the only thing Wren could hear was her own hammering heart and the soft desperate groans Loki occasionally made against her ear.

Loki's hips rolled forward in time with his fingers busy movement, and Wren whimpered in his arms. She sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes closed, unable to breathe out, unable to think clearly, her hands moved to his forearm and clutched it tightly. Loki bit down on his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and shoved at the soft cotton pants and moved up close behind her. Long heartbeats passed before he felt her twitch against him. He pressed himself inside her and she let out the breath she'd been holding in a long shuddering moan as she came apart around him. A helpless groan was drawn from his mouth as he thrust shallowly against her, his own release took only moments he was so caught up in her whimpers and cries.

When he stilled, sweaty and shaking behind her, she drew his arms around her again and gripped them... tighter than was comfortable.

"You're trembling..." he whispered against her ear.

"It's cold..." she said, in an attempt to sound calm.

Loki wriggled an arm free and tugged her blankets up around them. She struggled to even out her breathing as she sank back against his chest. They lay in silence for a while, until Wren rolled over so she could nuzzle her face against his chest and tuck her head safely under his chin. Her breath tickled across his skin and he wrapped his arms back around her. "You will wake me wont you, before you leave... in the morning." She said softly.

"Of course..."


	7. Chapter 7

"I have to go," Loki whispered against Wren's cheek as the early morning sunlight began to creep up the bed towards them.

"Mmmm... no." She mumbled without really waking.

"There are things to do." He told her gently, but as he began to push the covers back she tightened her arms around him and hooked a leg up over his to keep him still. "Hehe Wren, I must."

"What good is it for Loki to be king if he can't stay in bed all day, just once?"

Loki laughed and kissed her affectionately. "Just once...?"

"Well... perhaps twice. A week." She still hadn't opened her eyes, but she smiled sleepily.

"You are a beguiling witch, do you know that?" He asked as he moved to cover her with his body.

"Mmm whatever works." She slid her arms up around him and snuggled down under his weight.

"Unfortunately this time Asgard cannot concede. Go back to sleep little bird," he kissed her tenderly, "I will endeavour to break for midday deal... if you will join me."

"Course I will."

"And... if I can secure an early enough conclusion to the day, we could meet in the training room before dinner."

Wren's eyes popped open and she smiled brightly at him, all traces of sleep gone. "Really?"

"I said I would help you... and I know that," he paused and found one of her hands so he could bring it to his lips. "I know you dislike all of this. Since Thor has been gone you've hardly ventured from your rooms..."

"Don't do that," she chided him gently.

"Do what?"

"Make this somehow all about him. I know you've always felt that he was the one at centre stage and you were on the sidelines... I don't leave my rooms because," she sighed and tightened her grip on his hand. "Because I know that Thor's companions are putting pressure on you. They want you to overturn the allfather's decree, and they will try to get me to convince you to do it..."

"I can't do that, Wren!"

"I know. And even if I didn't understand, I would trust you to do the right thing." She gazed up and him and he looked back with wide dark eyes. "You are a good man, a good King, but we're neither of us experienced at any of this... I stay in my rooms so that... well, so that you know where I am. What I'm doing. So that there are no intrigues to distract you right now... I miss Thor. And I'm afraid that the last words I will ever say to him were said in anger, but I don't wallow in here in abject misery all day. I just wait..."

"You are a magnificent woman, do you know that?" Wren blushed and hid her face in his chest. "You make me feel that everything could really be alright again."

"It will be, Loki. I know it will..." She drew him down and kissed him with every intent of keeping him there with her for some time yet.

"Ah, temptress." Loki hissed, kissed her once forcefully and then rolled from the bed and backed away. "I have things to do... and so do you."

"Oh yes, how could I forget. An entire day of sitting. Possibly interspersed with sighing and pining if the mood strikes me." She sat up and watched him pull on his clothes. "It must be unfathomable to you, how I contain my excitement."

"No pining, no sighing, and very little sitting. Up!" He threw her leather armour at her. "Dress yourself."

"What? Why?"

"Thor's companions can complain and cajole all they wish," he smiled at her, "but I know you better than they. Go. Train in the yard the guards. Walk outside in the sun. Visit with mother and make her smile. I hold no fear of you, little bird, nor for your loyalties." Wren bounced from the bed and put her arms tight about his neck so she could kiss him. The impact made him stagger back, and he wrapped his arms around her. "You and I..." he said softly.

"We will get there." She finished and he put her down gently on her feet.

The day passed quickly, so much so that Wren was surprised at sundown when she spotted Loki out of the corner of her eye. He leaned against a column with his arms crossed and his cheeky, rakish smile on his face. "How long have you been there?" She called as she ducked a swipe from one of the guards she was training with.

"Long enough to know we need to find you strangers to train with." He laughed.

"What do you mean by that?" She demanded indignantly. In her irritation she had stopped paying attention and the guard swung at her again, but before the blunted weapon could make contact he reversed his swing and missed her.

"I mean that they so adore their little bird that no one is actually prepared to hit you." He laughed again and the guard looked unsure of himself. "It's quite alright," Loki assured him, "I understand completely..."

Wren looked at the guard she'd been sparring with. "Eric...?"

"I'm sorry my lady," he said lamely as he took his helmet off and shook out his long blond hair. "I did try to begin with but..."

She gave him a theatrically sulky glare for a moment, but when he looked concerned by it she relented, laughed, and threw her arms about his neck. "Oh Eric, hard as the hills, you are."

Eric coughed uncomfortably until Wren pulled away. "You have improved a great deal today..."

"But at some point someone will actually have to hit you." Loki finished. "Not tonight though, you skipped lunch and I am hungry. Come."

Wren rolled her eyes and bowed to Eric, who still looked intensely uncomfortable, before she took Loki's offered arm and allowed him to lead her away. "Thank you Eric!" She called over her shoulder.

"Will we see you tomorrow my lady?" He called.

"I should imagine so, bright and early!"

The troop behind them smashed their fists against their armour once in salute and then went back to training. Loki grinned down at her as they walked. "Everywhere you go, people just adore you, don't they?"

"I like people, and I think people like to be liked." She said. "Frigga always told me to be kind and mindful of the guards... even the Allfather forgets about them most of the time, and all men like to be appreciated."

"And mother gave you to believe it was your job to manage them?"

"To care about them, Loki. Not manage them." She smiled and bumped her head against his upper arm. "You don't have to manage everyone, certainly not them. They love your mother and father, and they love you."

"If that is true it is largely because of mother... and you."

"King's see big pictures my dear one. Grand scopes and epic stories... women don't tend to think that way."

"Perhaps... or perhaps you are both uncommonly good women." He grinned and she jumped to she could peck his cheek quickly.

"Come on, let's take some some food up to your mother and eat with her. It must be so lonely... sitting in that room waiting for her love to wake up."

"Not a small, intimate dinner then?" He raised a suggestive eyebrow and she giggled and blushed.

"And you said I was a temptress... my rooms aren't going anywhere." She slid her hand down his arm so she could lace their fingers together and Loki felt again the sick juxtaposition of joy and shame that he was coming to associate with her affection.

Dinner was a subdued affair, with minimal conversation. The Allfather had been unconscious for days, and their hopes for a speedy recovery were floundering. Frigga managed to maintain a soft smile as she ate and watched the children talking quietly.

"I overheard one of the guards talking about your training in the yard today." The Queen said.

Wren bit her lip for a moment. "... they were very kind to allow me to join them."

"She needed to get out of her rooms mother, and with Thor gone and I indisposed..." Loki began but Frigga held up her hand to stop them both.

"I do not disapprove." She smiled. "I have been worried about you, my darling." She said to Wren. "That you have barely left your rooms since... well, it is common knowledge. You have always been such a friendly and sociable girl, It's not good for you to lock yourself away."

"I didn't mean to worry anyone, it just seemed better..."

"Better for whom?" Frigga asked shrewdly. "Is it your duty to make life easier for my son?"

Everyone sat in silence for a moment. Frigga eyed the children calmly while they in turn looked everywhere but at her, or each other. Eventually the Queen took pity on them. "Do not ever think that just because I am concentrating on something else that I am not at all moments keeping an eye on you, my darlings." She smiled then. "It might be a mother's pride talking, but it seems to me you have both chosen rather well."

Loki watched his mother closely for the rest of the meal, but if she felt any urge to reveal the secret of his true parentage, she showed no sign of it. Did she presume he had done so already? He had to assume she knew about their night together, surely she wouldn't approve of his taking advantage of Wren without telling her. Still the mean passed, and he could detect nothing in her demeanour nor tone which suggested she was in any way displeased with him.

Wren covered her mouth and yawned. "Excuse me! I'm so sorry, it's been a very long day."

"You will be sore in the morning," Frigga said sagely. "You should soak in a hot bath before bed. It will help."

"I will," Wren promised. "If I might be excused then..." she stood and winced as muscles which had finally cooled down protested at movement. "Oh my..."

"There it is." Frigga said with a smile.

Throwing caution to the wind, Loki took her hand and tugged her down so that he could kiss her gently. "Goodnight..."

"Goodnight, dear one." Wren smiled and blushed when he held onto her hand as she walked away, only letting go at the last possible moment. "Goodnight Frigga."

"Goodnight darling." When the door closed, Frigga looked at her son with a raised eyebrow. "If this theatrical parting was for my benefit, you should know I am not ignorant of where you have slept the past two nights..."

Loki coughed uncomfortably. "You have been strangely silent on the subject."

"I love Cerridwren, you know that, and trust you both to be concerned for each others feelings in this..." She looked at him carefully. "Why don't you ask me the question you really want to ask me?"

"Very well. You have said nothing to her of my parentage. Why?"

"Why haven't you?" She asked. Loki squirmed under her intense gaze. "I think we have kept the secret for very different reasons Loki..."

"What other reason could there be?" He asked morosely.

"I do not believe it matters..." Frigga told him gently. "Wren grew up in a strange land, away from her own people... in many ways it has always been harder for her. She has always known she was not like us. That she came from a place unimaginably far away, and that no one here would ever really understand her."

"The Dannan's are great warriors, known throughout all the realms for their honour and their kindness. Everyone knows Wren is a Goddess... what do they know of Frost Giants mother?" He leaned back in his chair and tossed his napkin angrily onto the table. "I am a monster, masquerading as a man! If she saw my true face..."

"Then she would complain that you will never be able to wear matching clothes to a ball." Frigga said firmly. "You're doing her a disservice Loki." She sighed, stood, and moved around the table to hug him against her gently. "If I thought it would matter, if I thought it would change anything, I would not allow you to continue to keep it from her."

"I wish I did not know... or that I had always known. Either would be better than this..."

"I would have insisted on telling you shortly in any event," she said softly.

Loki looked up at her in confusion. "Why?"

She smiled. "Because when two young people begin looking at each other as you and Wren have done lately, a wedding is usually not far behind, and your children will have Frost Giant talents... talents their parents must be ready for."

"There will be no children, mother." Loki said firmly.

She sighed. "You have always been quick to believe the worst, of yourself and of others... She will surprise you, my son. I am sure of it."


	8. Chapter 8

Wren sank into the steaming hot bath and winced at the dull aching pain in her muscles. It might not have been the best idea to train all day... still, she'd been stuck in her room for too long, and the one thing she could count on was that the guards would never try to influence her in any way. They were good people, and she enjoyed their company. Her long hair became heavier as it got water logged and she sank all the way down and leaned back so that her head was floating.

For the first time, she could see her future clearly. The Allfather would wake up, she was sure of it. He would be his usual, grumpy self for a while and when he felt that Thor had learned his lesson he would allow him to return. She and Loki would perform this strange dance for a while longer and eventually, when everything had settled down, when he was comfortable enough, they would tell the Allfather that they were returning to the Mountain. Loki would go with her, meet her father, and one day they would rule under the mountain together and watch over the children. Thor would rule in Asgard and everything would be perfect.

The steam and the heat made her lethargic and she may have dozed for a while in the water, until a niggling chill disturbed her. At first she thought that the water was cooling and she opened her eyes to a room still filled with steam. Confused, she moved her hands through the water, looking for a cold spot, but there was none. The chill seemed to spread up her spine until, in one terrifying moment, she remembered when she had felt it before.

"Frost Giants!" She hissed and stood.

Her clothing stuck and it was a struggle to pull it on as she didn't pause to dry herself. She skipped her boots, instead she caught up the harness which strapped her short swords to her back and ran from the room, struggling into it as she went.

The late hour meant that the palace's guards were concentrated at the entrances, having swept for threats just after everyone had gone to bed. There wasn't a soul in the halls to warn as she ran, following the pull of the heavy cold she felt in her spine until, with a thrill of dread, she realised where she was heading.

She pause for a moment at the door to the chamber where the Allfather slept and draw her swords. A few deep breaths and she rushed forward, barged the door open with her shoulder in time to see a Frost Giant stood over the prone body of Odin. He didn't strike though, and Wren became aware that Loki was off to the side, he'd said something which distracted the assassin, and then skewered him with his spear.

"Loki!" Wren cried, dropped her own swords and ran to him. A moment later Frigga joined them from where she'd been knocked aside by the initial attack and the three stood, holding each other tightly.

"I swear to you mother, they will pay for what they've tried to do today." Loki began.

"Loki!" In the doorway, dressed in his armour with a face dark as thunder, stood Thor.

"Thor! I knew you'd return to us!" Frigga ran and embraced him, and Wren would have done the same, but Loki's arm had tightened around her and for a dizzying moment she thought he was going to push her behind him.

"Why don't you tell them Loki? How you sent the destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me!" Thor asked angrily.

Loki backed away and this time he did push Wren behind him.

"What?" Frigga looked between her sons.

"It must have been enforcing father's last command." Loki said.

"You're a talented liar, brother. You always have been."

"It is good to have you back... Wren and mother have missed you terribly." He paused for a moment. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to destroy Jotenheim." He leveled his staff at Thor and blasted his brother through the wall.

"LOKI!" Wren screamed. She'd stood, looking between them in stunned silence, convinced that at any moment the truth would be revealed and they would all laugh that such a mistake could be made. He turned and looked at her and for just a moment, he looked incredibly sad. "Stay here." He said firmly, and then he was gone.

"Wait, what...? Frigga?" Wren turned to the Queen who had her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. "I don't..."

"Go after them! Quickly! Keep them from killing each other, I must try everything in my power to wake Odin!"

Unable to disobey, Wren caught up her swords and ran. Her screaming muscles were forgotten in her haste, and as she came to the Palace edge of the rainbow bridge, she could see that Loki had activated the bifrost... Her legs churned hard under her and each breath made her lungs burn. When she skidded to a halt, Thor and Loki were glaring at each other.

"Loki this is madness..."

"Is it madness? Is it... Is it?" Loki hissed. There were tears in his eyes and Wren had the urge to reach for him. "What could have happened to you down there to make you so... soft? Don't tell me it's that woman. Oh... it was! Maybe, when we're finished here, I'll pay her a visit myself!"

"LOKI!" Wren yelled, part in denial part in anger.

He tensed and looked at her, his eyes shone in a kind of madness, and he was caught completely by surprise when Thor rushed him. Shoved onto his back, Loki bucked his brother off and they rolled around, each grunting and yelling while Wren looked for an opening to pull them apart and screamed things she would never remember to try to get them to stop.

"Break the ice!" Thor yelled to her.

For the first time, she noticed the tree of ice which had grown around the controls, which sealed in Hymdall's sword making it impossible to deactivate the bifrost. "How?" She cried.

"Smash it! Anything!"

Loki and Thor continued to battle and Wren stared at them, frozen in indecision.

"Don't!" Called Loki. "Leave it, Wren!"

Stuck, unable to follow either direction usefully, or to understand what she was seeing, Wren stood by with her mouth open, unable to do anything. The bifront shuddered and a wave of energy erupted from it which sent all three of them flying. Wren skidded up the rainbow bridge and and say Loki go over the edge. She screamed his name, but Thor was already there, he reached a hand down to help his brother up, but the illusion vanished. The real Loki knocked his brother to the ground and a small army of illusions massed around him.

"Loki stop it!" Wren screamed at him. Another wave of power and air as Thor flailed with his hammer and the real Loki went flying. His eyes flat with anger, the God of thunder stood over Loki for a moment in indecision. "Thor, please!" Wren called as she tried to scrabble to her feet. With a glance at her, Thor put his hammer on Loki's chest and turned towards the glowing mass of uncontrolled energy that the bifrost had become.

"There's nothing you can do! All your power, all your strength and what good are they now?" Loki yelled over the noise of the bifrost which seemed as like to tear itself apart as far distant Jotenheim.

The look Thor shot him was pure venom and, with a resigned sigh, he held out his hand, and the hammer flew to him. Thor set his feet and began to pound at the rainbow bridge. Loki sat up in shock. "You can't! If you destroy the bifrost you'll never see her again!"

Thor continued to work. "You left me no choice..." Wren somehow hear him say over the roaring wind.

To her horror, Loki struggled to his feet and ran towards his brother, his spear held before him. "Loki NO!" One last hit of the hammer, and the bifrost exploded. The landing platform split away from the bridge and toppled off into space, while the energy released threw them all back again. Loki and Thor went over the edge, while Wren was once again bowled along the length of the bridge. She came up screaming, but the Allfather was already there, his fist wrapped securely around Thor's ankle.

"Cerridwren, the water!" The Allfather yelled at her. She turned and saw a tidal wave growing out of the bay heading towards the houses clustered along the shoreline. "Stop the water!" He ordered her.

"I don't know how!" She cried. "I can't!"

"Do it!"

With violently trembling hands, Wren turned her back on the city and raised her arms. Her face twisted in concentration as she brought her hands to her chest and, with every indication that she was trying to move and unbelievably heavy weight, she forced her hands out slowly in front of her. The rapidly growing wall of water faltered. Slowly, painfully, it began to swell back the other way, away from the city, at Wren's command. When the water stilled, and lay flat once again, she looked up at Odin, Thor and Loki, ready to accept their congratulations and awe... Instead, she saw Loki fall into the distant darkness while Thor screamed after him.

The world spun wildly around her and she dropped to her knees. "NO!" She didn't recall screaming it, but knew it must have come from her. A sick violent feeling began to churn in her stomach, and the water under the bridge where she knelt began to churn as well. She couldn't breathe. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. This was wrong. The water under her roiled and spun, and distantly she seemed to hear the Allfather call her name, but it didn't mean anything.

Strong arms picked her up and held her tightly. Someone was sobbing against her hair, "I'm sorry, I couldn't pull him up. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Her eyes wouldn't focus and the wind around them picked up as her vision blurred. "Father, what do we do?"

Odin, his face set grim but his single eye gleaming with unshed tears, reached out his hand and touched her hair... and Wren fell unconscious against Thor's chest. The wind and water calmed slowly, until some minutes later there was nothing to suggest that anything untoward had been happening. Without a word, Thor scooped Wren up in his arms and carried her back towards the city.

"Let me help you," Odin said quietly, but Thor shook him off.

"She will never forgive me... not for this." Thor kept his eyes locked on the distant city, and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. "This is the last time I'll ever carry my sleeping sister to her rooms..."

Odin allowed his steps to shorted and Thor pulled ahead. There was no time for thinking. At the palace, Frigga gave her grief only a moment before she took charge of the unconscious little princess. "Take he up to her rooms." She ordered Thor quickly.

"Remove the candles, and any water from the room." Odin added.

Frigga looked at him carefully for a moment and then nodded, and turned to hurry after her son.

Wren didn't wake all that night, nor the following day. When her eyes finally fluttered open, she saw that her rooms were growing dark and wondered that no one had lit the candles. Then she saw Thor. He sat slumped in a chair, his legs stretched out before him and on hand resting on the bed as though he had fallen asleep grasping her fingers.

"Thor..." She called softly.

His eyes popped open and he lurched forward off the chair to kneel beside her bed. "Wren... how do you feel...?"

She glanced around. No candles. No water... "It was real...? Not a nightmare."

"It was real." Thor confirmed softly. His hands sought out hers and he clasped it tightly. "I'm so sorry..."

"I don't understand... I don't understand how this happened..."

"I will explain, as best I can..." He told her.

The story took all night to tell, and never once did either of them suggest it was time to light the candles.


	9. Chapter 9

The sound of clashing steel echoed up from the training yards as Thor wandered down to tell Wren it was time to eat. It had taken her three days to come out of her room after Loki's fall from the bridge, and when she did she found something so completely unexpected that it almost broke her again. Whispers and rumours about the power she had displayed, and how much she had lost control of it, had spread in her absence and she was greeted with cool and concerned distance. She had never displayed such power before, though legend said that on their own world, the Dannan's had a great deal of power over the elements. With the mysterious problems with Loki, and the revelation of his parentage and treachery... Wren was considered by many to be highly suspect as well.

At first, Thor was afraid that this would be more than she could handle. She could barely look him in the eye, though she seemed sincere in not blaming him for anything that happened. After a few days though, Frigga came and found him and led him out onto a balcony. Down in the training yard, Wren was dressed in her Dannan light armour and was sparing aggressively with a tall, blond haired guard.

"Harder." The guard had told her, and she'd grit her teeth and redoubled her efforts. "Keep it under control, you want speed and strength, but you also want to land where you mean to and nowhere else." He instructed.

Wren nodded, reset her grip on her weapons and began again.

"How long has this been going on?" Thor asked.

"He knocked on her door at sunrise this morning," Frigga had told him in a whisper, though there was no way those below could hear. "He told her she was late for training."

Thor had watched for a while, unsure what to think, but the guard never hurt her... he did however push her. Hard.

That had been weeks ago, and as Thor entered the training yard he could see a remarkable improvement in her form. When the guard's noticed him, someone yelled 'hold' and all combat ceased.

"There is food waiting inside, sister." He told her and frowned when Wren shook her head.

"I ate with the guards not half an hour ago."

"Wren..."

"Thor." She looked at him calmly. "They don't want me in there... almost as much as I don't want to be there."

"It will pass, but you must let it."

"I must nothing." She spat angrily. "They have all made their mind's up, about me and about him."

"After what he did..."

"He was ill Thor, and you know it! It was too much..." she shook her head and blinked back tears which threatened every time she tried to talk about what had happened. "You know how sensitive he's always been, they may not, but I know you know... it was more than he could bear." She sighed and looked down at the swords in her hands. "He gave these to me. Pulled them from some storage room where they'd been kept since I came here. It had been so long, I'd forgotten they were even there."

"What can I do, Wren? How can I,"

"You can't, brother." She put both hilts into her left hand, and placed her right on his arm. "I'm not angry with you, Thor. I swear it. I AM angry with them, and everyone seems to become noticeably twitchy whenever I get emotional these days... have you noticed?"

"That power saved this city." He told her firmly.

"I know that, and you know that... convenient how quickly others overlook it though." She shook her head. "This isn't my home Thor, and they are not my people."

"You wouldn't really leave us, would you?"

"Has to happen sometime, brother. Perhaps it is Loki's influence on me, but right about the time everyone starts to hate you seems as reasonable a time as any." She looked at her sparring companion, the tall blond Eric. "Once I have learned enough that I wont be an embarrassment to my father, I'll be returning home."

"How? The bifrost is gone and we are nowhere near repairing it." Thor pointed out, thinking he had trapped her.

Wren shook her head and smiled in a slightly condescending way. "I have never needed the bifrost to go home, Thor. Only to return here."

"Excuse me?"

"Odin might think the Asgard the pinnacle of the universes sentient life, but you are not the only ones who can bend space when they need to. The only place I can go is home, but I can get there any time I choose. I would go this moment except..." She stopped herself mid sentence and looked at him.

"Except that you're hoping he will come back..."

"He always has before," she said quietly, unable to meet his eyes. "But then, he used to have you..."

It stung to hear her say it, though Thor knew by the instantly contrite look on her face that she hadn't said it to hurt him. The idea that she might leave, that indeed she could go at any time and not even have to tell anyone, shook him to the core. His family was disintegrating around him, and there seemed to be nothing he could say to any of them to halt the process.

"I would be bereft without you." He told her softly.

"And I you _cariad_... but this place is made of sadness, and eventually even I will have to admit that he's gone." She blinked again, but it wasn't enough and a few tears trickled down her cheeks. She moved to wipe them away and then changed her mind and left them almost defiantly.

Eric, who had stood by silently, looked unbelievably discomforted to have been included in such a conversation. It had been the bravest thing he had ever done, to turn up at the princess' rooms and bark that she was late for training. They'd drawn lots for the duty down in the barracks. She'd been so sad, so cut off, and so heartbroken. The guards prided themselves on being a breed apart, and they had decided amongst themselves that whatever else might be true, Cerridwren was a sweet girl and the world was treating her poorly.

"Are you really going to leave us, my lady?" Eric asked after a long and uncomfortable silence.

"Be glad to be rid of me I imagine," she smiled at him. "Go back to doing actual training, rather than babysitting a princess al day."

"We defend the city, the people... no one has accomplished so much in a single instant as you did. We should all be proud to have saved half as many in a life time. No babysitting, my lady, and no offence meant but... well... we think of you as one of us." He stammered.

Wren stared at him for a moment, then gave a low cry and put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Eric coughed and patted her back... guards didn't, as a rule, display such open emotion, but he might have misted up just a little as she kissed his cheek.

As he watched, Thor felt that the wall between them might never come down again. There had been a time, and he remembered it clearly though it seems aeons ago, that she would routinely throw her arms about his neck thus. Kiss his cheek and announce how she loved her great oafish brother. In truth he saw that she gave her love away freely to anyone... so long as they loved her back, and she had found a safety and a peace down there with the guardsmen that he was no longer able to give her.

"I will tell mother you have already eaten... will you at least join us for dinner?"

"If the Queen wishes it, I will come." She let go of Eric's neck and smiled fondly at him as he straightened his armour unnecessarily. "The Allfather hasn't had the opportunity to scowl at me disapprovingly for at least three days now, I suppose it's time to pay my dues again."

The guards were intensely discomforted at Wren's new found propensity for being casually irreverent towards the Allfather, though they understood where it came from.

"Don't worry Eric, I can contain myself while you're around."

"Wren..." Thor frowned at her but she turned to Eric and held her weapons low.

"I'm sorry, brother, but we will lose the light soon..." She told him over her shoulder.

The guard looked at the Prince uncomfortably but Thor waved a hand at him. It wasn't the guards fault that Wren was angry with everyone. Nor was it precisely hers. Indeed the more he thought on it the harder it became for Thor to pin down exactly who to hold responsible for this grand mess his life had become. He had left Jane behind on Earth, his brother mad and gone, his sister heart broken and unable to bear to look at him... goodness only knew what the Allfather thought, but Frigga seemed sad and lonely without Loki to entertain her. Wren had all but stopped visiting the Queen, unable to look her in the eye.

Thor returned to his mother, who was hovering around a table laid out with fruit and cold meat, and she sadly shook her head and sat before he could say anything.

"She seems content down there... as content as she can be at any rate." He told her.

"I know. I know, and I am glad for it but..." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "She's my only daughter... she's never known any mother but me and we were so close."

"I don't think she knows how to handle any of this. Of all the hearts Loki broke... I think hers the most destroyed." He sat beside his mother, neither of them ate anything.

"You should have seen them Thor, while you were away." She always said 'away'. "They were so happy... she was so unbelievably happy. She fell in love with him within a week of her arrival, and she waited, all this time and now..."

"Why did he do it...?" Thor asked, more to himself than to her, but she answered him anyway.

"I think he was afraid... so deathly afraid of what people would say when they found out. What Wren would say. He could have married her years ago, but he waited, he wasted time, and the moment it seemed everything had fallen into place... Perhaps he thought that he could prove he wasn't one of them? Sought to separate himself from them, so that we would all see he belonged here. So Wren would see..." She sighed sadly and shook her head. "In a mad way, I think he did a great deal of this for her. He always had trouble believing people could care about him. Believing he was loved."

"Do you think Wren would have rejected him?" Thor asked quietly.

"Not even for a moment. I tried to tell him he wasn't giving her enough credit, that he had to trust her... but I think he was too afraid."

"Strange... to think of Loki as being afraid of anything."

Frigga laughed sadly and shook her head at him. "Oh my boy... your brother has been afraid all his life..."


	10. Chapter 10

A frantic knocking at the door kept Thor from answering. A slightly wild eyed guard poked his head through "the Allfather calls for you urgently" he stammered.

Odin stood beside Hymdall at the shattered edge of the rainbow bridge when Thor and Frigga approached. "Your brother has been found."

Frigga put a hand to her heart and looked for a moment like she might faint, so Thor put an arm around her. "He is on the Earth, and he has the Teseract!"

"What? How?" Thor asked.

"I know not, and he moves in and out of Hymdall's sight seemingly at will!" Odin raged. "You must go after him! Retrieve the tesaract... it will cost us dearly to get you there, but one man. One man I might be able to send..."

"Wait, what about Wren?" Thor asked.

"What about her? You don't really suggest that I send her to retrieve him, do you?"

"No father, but you are needed here, you must oversee the repair of the bifrost... Wren can take me to Earth. She told me... she can go back at any time."

Odin looked at his son for a long time, his mouth set in a grim line. "I did not realise she was aware..." he said eventually. "She shouldn't be near him. Not after..."

"She will never forgive you if you keep this from her." Thor said firmly. "You know she wont, and she has a better chance by far than I of convincing him to come home."

"I am not so confident of that," Odin growled, but he nodded anyway. "Alright, fetch her and bring her here."

Thor flew back to te training ground and landed in a spray of dirt. "Wren!"

"What is it? What's wrong?" She stopped and sheathed her swords across her back.

"I need you to come with me, now."

He had been half afraid she would demand explanations. That she would refuse to go with him, but she merely looked at him for a moment and then held her arms out. Thor picked her up easily and held her against his side while they flew back to the others.

"Thor tells me that you believe you can return to Earth at will." Odin said without preamble.

Wren glared daggers at her brother but nodded.

"Do you believe you can take others with you?" He asked.

Wren blinked stupidly at him for a moment and glanced around at the others. "I don't know... one perhaps, but no more, and I imagine it would hurt them."

"Would it damage them in any way?" Odin asked.

"No, I don't think so... for me, the act is going home, my flesh and the flesh of the Earth want to be together... dragging another might be more uncomfortable... what's going on?"

Thor looked at the others and when no one answered he stepped in. "Hymdall has seen Loki, on Earth."

"What?" Wren demanded and turned to the gatekeeper who dwarfed her.

"It is true, though my vision is incomplete. How he blocks my sight I do not know..."

"But he's alive? He's safe?" She demanded.

"Not exactly... the humans have captured him. He has been... causing them some distress." Hymdall said.

"Can you take me with you, can we get there?" Thor asked her.

Wren looked at him speculatively. "It would be easier if you were smaller..." she said dubiously.

"But I am not. Can you do it?"

"... yes. I believe so."

"Then we should go. Hymdall, where is he?" Thor asked.

Hymdall reached out and put a hand on Wren's shoulder and images flashed through her mind. She gasped and doubled over, as though she were going to be ill. "Ahhh. Alright... alright I understand... this isn't going to be smooth, Thor. They're flying..."

"It doesn't matter. As long as it doesn't kill us."

"Alright, come here."She held her arms out and Thor stepped up in front of her. She regarded him for a moment and then stepped up onto his feet. "Put your arms around me." She instructed, and he did as he was told. "You might want to hold your breath... this isn't going to be pleasant."

"What will it feel like?" Thor asked as he looked down at her.

"I have no idea. I've never done it before." Without waiting, she closed her eyes and her face screwed up with effort. The water under them seemed to bow away from where they stood, as though gravity had become heavier in that spot. Thor felt a great weight increasing on him from all sides until it seemed that he imploded into pain!

Lights and bizarre images flashed about him and he felt that he might be crushed to death. All the time he was still aware of the little woman standing on his shoes... After an impossible to determine period of time, the weight disappeared and Thor struggled to breathe again.

"FLY!" He heard her scream and shook his head trying to clear it. There was a roaring sound in his ears and he could feel his cloak flapping madly around him. "Fly, you great oaf!" Wren screamed and he realised that they were falling through thick clouds.

Frantically, Thor clutched at his Hammer and they stopped losing altitude. Unable to fly comfortably, Thor shifted Wren around until she clung on to his shoulders and almost sat upon his back. "Where?" He yelled over the storm. Wren didn't bother trying to yell an answer back, instead she leaned forward over his shoulder and pointed. Having no alternative but to trust to her confidence, Thor hurtled blindly through the clouds in the direction she indicated until he all but smashed into the top of the black jet.

Inside, Loki sat strapped into a safety harness, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow.

"Don't like thunder storms?" Steve asked.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." He said with false lightness.

The rear of the jet was forced open and Thor, with Wren sting clung onto his shoulders, walked in as thought it were perfectly natural. Without a word, he grabbed Loki and tore him free of the harness. Wren slipped from his back as he turned and jumped back out of the plane.

"Hey! That's ours!" Tony yelled after Thor, but stopped cold when Wren held up both hands.

"We mean no harm to you..." She said gently, and a strange, comfortable lassitude came over them as they looked at her. "Everything will be alright..."

"Careful ma'am," Steve darted forward and took a hold of her elbow. "Wouldn't want to fall."

She laughed softly and patted his arm. "You're very sweet... but I'm perfectly alright. I promise." Without taking her eyes off him, she took three quick steps backwards and allowed herself to fall from the back of the plane.

"NO!" Steve jerked forward to catch her, but she was gone.

"Who the hell was that?" Tony demanded.

"Big guy was Thor, another Asgardian, I have no idea who the girl was." Natasha called from the pilot's seat.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve demanded.

"It doesn't matter, whether he frees Loki or kills him, we've still lost the teseract!"

Wren fell quite calmly through the clouds. Slowly, she rolled over so that she was facing the ground and spread her arms. "Thor. I need a lift." She called out into the unending clouds. A few moments later she could see him matching her trajectory from below and she angled herself down so that she settled smoothly onto his back.

Loki was clutched tightly in his grip and they hurtled down towards a craggy peak and landed hard. Wren was pitched from his back and thrown forward, but she landed lightly on her feet where the two men tumbled end over end.

"You two seem to have developed a... close working relationship." Loki quipped when he pulled himself to his feet.

Thor glowered at him. "Watch your tongue."

"And so protective... Tell me, did you wait? Did you mope around, both of you, and wear blackest mourning? Or did he scoop you up in his big strong arms straight away and carry you off?" Loki pushed, his eyes alight with manic zeal.

Thor took a step towards him but Wren was already there, she slapped him sharply across the face. "You don't honestly believe that! Why are you hurting me?" Loki simply stared down at her, his hair wild in the wind and his coat flapping about.

"Where is the teseract?" Thor demanded. Loki glance at him and shrugged airily. "Do I look to be in a gaming mood? Where is it?"

"Well it's not here." Loki said lightly.

"Loki please, we need it to get back." Wren said.

"The Allfather must have put himself back into the Odinsleep all the energy it too to send you both here. You should thank me, brother." Loki sneered. "That is if you're even still interested in your human woman..."

Wren hit him again and he came up with a split lip. "You're more spirited than I remember..."

"What is WRONG with you?" She demanded. "You have to stop. This is completely out of control! Come HOME Loki!"

"Home...? It's not my home, and it's not _your_ home either." He pointed out.

"No... it's not my home, but I waited. After you fell I... I waited for you to come back. You always came back before. And as bad as things were and as much as they... I didn't dare leave! Without the bifrost I couldn't get back, and if you made your way home you'd never find me..." She shook her head and looked away. "But you didn't come back... instead you came here. You came _HERE_ and you hurt the children!"


	11. Chapter 11

Thor grabbed his brother by the back of the neck and gripped him tightly. "Come home Loki. Father will,"

"Not my father." Loki held up a mocking finger.

"He raised us together. We played together, we fought together! I cheered you on as you learned illusions from mother that I could never master, I watched you... I watched you fall in love with the quiet girl who followed us everywhere... do you remember none of that?" Thor demanded.

"I remember your shadow... cast for far over me that there was no light. I remember being led to believe we were born equal! When we both know that no amount of achievement was ever going to see me equal with you in his eyes! I was a curiosity... a relic for the vault."

"So you come here, take the world I love, the world SHE loves, as recompense for your _imagined_ slights." Thor shook him by the neck. "You listen to me..."

A massive rush of wind and sound and Thor was gone in a flash of red and gold. Loki raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening..." He turned to look at Wren who had covered her gasp with her hand and stared down the side of the ravine to where Thor and Iron Man tumbled end over end.

"Damn!" She hissed.

"Choices to be made, little bird." He said calmly. "Will you keep me here, or will you rush off to save the hero? Decisions, decisions..."

Her eyes hardened and she cocked her head to one side. "I have never, and will never have to chose between you. I'm more resourceful than that... and here, I'm more than just a little bird." She took a deep breath and stamped her foot down hard. The side of the ravine fell away in a natural ramp and while Loki watched the land slide curiously, she elbowed him hard in the face and knocked the sense from him. She then hoisted him up across her shoulders, grunting with the effort it took. "I suggest you don't wriggle around too much... you're really too heavy for me to be doing this..." She put her foot on a large, lose rock and it wobbled dangerously. Then she took a deep breath, stepped completely up onto the rock and bent her knees. The rock obligingly began a rather hasty but smooth decent down the land slide.

At the bottom, the metal man and Thor were trading insults and blows. Wren dumped Loki, knocking all the wind out of him again and hurried to get between them.

"HOLD!" She cried.

"Wren, move!" Thor ordered but she held one up up to him and the other to the metal man. "You've frightened them, Thor. They're just defending themselves! I'm telling you, Hold!"

Thor frowned deeply and watched for any sign of hostility while Wren walked towards the metal man and a newly arrived man all in blue whom he recognised from the plane.

"It's alright. I swear, we're not here to hurt you." She said.

"Tell that to long-flowing-locks over there." The metal man quipped.

"We just came for him." She pointed to Loki. "You must know what he is, you must know you can't contain him here. I know he's done you wrongs, but I swear he will answer for them... we have to take him home."

"Look, he coughs up the teseract, and he's all yours."

Loki began to laugh, and Wren frowned down at him. "I've sent it off, I know not where... so it seems we're all in this together." He chortled.

Wren rolled her eyes and looked back at the metal man. "You honestly don't know where it is?" she asked.

"No clue. He swiped it and started killing people the day before yesterday."

"He... you killed them?" Wren looked down at him with an expression of broken hearted disgust. "You killed them?" She hissed again. "What were you _thinking_! You came here and you killed the children!"

It seemed, finally, that Loki had run out of wit in the face of Wren's rage. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. One hand shot out and she touched the side of the man in blue's face. "Tell me the truth. Is humanity in any way ready for the power of the teseract?"

Steve started down at her wide eyed for a moment before stammering. "No ma'am... I don't believe so."

"Then I will be guided by you." She patted his cheek gently and turned back to Thor. "We have to help them."

"We have to get home." Thor said carefully, not wanting to give in to easily.

"And I can't get you home. You need the teseract to get him off my world. We have to help them."

"Excuse me, _your_ world. You're not... one of those." The metal man gestured between Thor and Loki.

"No, I'm not one of those." She turned back to him and held out her hand. "I am Cerridwren..."

"Right. Listen, Cerry, we're not real big on people just swanning in and taking over around here."

"Except when you do it," the man in blue muttered and the metal man glared at him. "Stark. I think you need to calm down."

"Oh based on what? She touched you one time and you felt all tingly?"

"I'm telling you... you need to listen to her." Steve said more firmly.

Wren smiled at him and finally dropped her hands. She glanced at Thor over her shoulder. "I carried him down here, it's only fair you carry him back up."

"Why can he not walk?" Thor asked as he hauled Loki to his feet.

"I may have hit him about the head a bit..." Wren admitted.

"I'm Steve." He held his hand out to her and Wren shook it with a childlike smile on her face.

"Cerridwren... I'm glad to know you." She gave him a small bow and when he offered her his arm, she took it.

"Yeah, I'm Tony just BTW... Tony... Stark. Genius..." He shrugged and fell into step beside Thor, who had hoisted Loki over his shoulder. "She do that a lot?"

"What?"

"Just... whammy people. She touches his face and BAM it's the 19... oh. Wait. Never mind." He waved a red metal hand.

"I do not understand your full meaning, but generally yes, people respond well to here, though I admit her power to compel your kind to listen to her seems excessive, even for her." Thor admitted.

"Compel? She didn't 'compel'... how do you mean?"

Thor cocked his head to the side and looked at Tony. "You were ready to fight. She asked you to stop. You stopped."

"So did you."

At Thor's deep laugh, Wren and Steve looked back to see what was so funny. "Indeed I did, but I have spent the better part of my life avoiding her ire... why did you?"

On the plane, Wren obligingly raised her arms so that Steve could strap her into a safety harness. She watched in amusement as the others locked Loki in and then stood around while the plane took off. Thor looked at her and when their eyes met, they both began to laugh.

"What? What is it?" Steve asked.

"It's nothing," she chuckled.

Thor crossed to sit beside her, and with more confidence than he'd felt in a long time, he put an arm around her shoulders and tugged her against his side. Wren smiled up at him and patted his knee. "We'll be alright _cariad_." She told him calmly.

"Cariad... that's, what, Welsh?" Asked Tony. When everyone looked at him strangely he shrugged. "What? I remember things."

Wren smiled. "It's a term of endearment."

"Oh, so you two are," Tony wiggled his fingers at them and then cast a theatrically consoling look at Steve. "Sorry Cap, looks like she's spoken for."

"Wren is my sister." Thor said, his amused smile still in place.

"I was fostered in Asgard." She clarified. "I've known these two scoundrels all my life."

"What went wrong with that one." Tony jerked his head towards Loki.

"Oh indeed. What went wrong with me?" Loki said as he rolled his eyes.

"He's having a spectacular hissy fit at mummy and daddy." Wren said firmly. "And if he's not careful he'll be spending the next thousand years in his room."

Thor snorted and tried to hide his chuckle behind his hand, then gave up and laughed openly. She leaned sideways and let her head flop against his shoulder. "They can fly," she whispered excitedly. "Look at them Thor, they're flying!"

The plan landed without incident on a massive carrier at sea. Wren rushed out onto the deck to look around, her eyes wide in wonder. "Does it have to be so grey?" She asked after a while.

Thor looked at her for a moment and then shook his head.

"Is she always this excitable?" Tony asked.

"She hasn't had anything to smile about in a long time... I think she's just glad to be home, and pleased to see people." Thor told him.

"Hello." Wren said to a random airman who stopped and looked at her strangely for a moment before bowing deeply.

"No really, how is she doing that?"

"Everyone adores Wren." Loki said, as he was led from the plane and surrounded by armed guards. "It's always been like that."

"Can you contact your people, Wren? Let them know you are here? What's going on?" Thor asked.

"I send a message with a falcon when we arrived... I should hear back shortly." She said absently as she inspected the outside of the plane.

"You sent a message with a falcon... never hear of a cell phone?" Tony asked.

"A what?" Wren's head popped back around the side of the plane, and she smiled when Tony waved her off.

"Never mind..."

"Oh, there we go. We're fairly close to the mountain here I think, it would have been much longer if we were over the red-land." Wren held up her arm, and a tired, bedraggled looking bird landed on her arm. "With a little luck my father will... my..." she stopped and looked at the bird with wide eyes. "But..." the bird tilted it's head to the side and looked at her with large yellow eyes. "Years..."

"Wren?" Thor took a step towards her slowly, only to rush to her side when she dropped to her knees.


	12. Chapter 12

It seemed that she wasn't breathing. She wrapped her arms tight around herself and doubled over, her forehead to the cold metal deck and a harsh red colouring creeping over her skin. The metal of the carries groaned and the engines kicked up a gear. Overhead, rolling clouds developed out of an otherwise benign sky.

"Wren, what is it? What's happened?" Thor knelt beside her and put a hand on her back. "Wren! Wren talk to me!"

"Thor," Loki said in warning as the carrier began to spin clockwise very slowly.

"What the hell is going on?" Tony demanded.

"I don't know!" Thor yelled as rain, heavy, driven and violent began to hit the deck. "I've only ever seen her like this once before..." He looked at Loki.

"Well how did you fix it then?" Tony called.

"The Allfather knocked her unconscious for two days!" Thor yelled back.

"Get someone inside, find a medic and get her a sedative!" Tony yelled to the airmen who ran off to do as they were told.

The carrier began to move faster as a maelstrom formed in the water below them. Wren still didn't appear to be breathing, she held herself tight and a high pitched pathetic animal sound came from her throat.

"Release me!" Loki demanded and held out his bound hands.

"Stay back!" Natasha ordered.

"I said release me, or she will drag us all under!"

Thor glanced over and nodded. With a wary look, Natasha let him out of his restraints. Loki ran as best he could on the pitching deck and skidded to his knee's beside her. Without a moment's thought he grabbed her upper arms and shook her hard.

"Who are you!" He screamed in her face.

Wren blinked stupidly at him, and the scream that had hovered behind her lips tore from her throat, broken and raw. Loki shook her hard again.

"I said who are you?"

"I... he's..." She stammered. The carrier slowed but the rain continued to fall making the deck slippery and dangerous.

"You are Cerridwren Battleborn." Loki hissed in her face. "You are the daughter of Tyr Keyturner and you are frightening the children."

She twitched and looked around. The carriers engines were strong enough by then to fight the currant and their course righted. The rain stopped feeling driven and aggressive, it slacked off to a steady pounding downpour. "You are the Queen under the Mountain..." Loki said quietly, having guessed the contents of the birds message.

Wren trembled violently and looked up at him. "He's been gone... for years. 50 years... how could I not know...?"

Loki continued to look at her and for a moment it looked like she might fall against his chest and cry. He pushed himself away and got to his feet. "Because no one saw fit to tell you. Wonderful man, the Allfather..."

"Loki!" Thor put his arm around Wren and tugged her back against his chest while glaring at his brother. "Don't fill he head with nonsense because you are angry with father! Wren, you know he didn't know. He _would_ have told you." He looked down at her over her shoulder, and frowned. She'd begun to sweat profusely and her trembling was even more pronounced. "Ok. It's alright. Come on..." He scooped her up in his arms. "Bind him again."

Thor didn't wait to see if his command had been followed. He carried Wren inside, and the last thing she remembered before blackness and fever took her, was the gentleness of his hands, and the dull grey of the bulkheads.

"I do not wish to leave her." Thor grumbled as he stood in the doorway of the bunk room where he'd lain Wren's sweating body. "She shouldn't wake up alone."

"How likely is another episode like that?" Fury, who hadn't bothered to introduce himself, asked.

Thor glared at him. "As long as no one else dies, fairly unlikely." Fury stared at him and Thor relented "I have only seen her do it once before, when we thought Loki had fallen to his death."

"Right."

"I'll stay with her." Bruce said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Thor looked hard at him. "Who are you?"

Bruce looked up at him and cleaned his glasses nervously. "I'm just somebody who understands losing control... I know how people will look at her when she wakes up..."

When Wren's eyes opened, she was laying on a bunk, with Thor's cloak draped over her. She rolled onto her side and the man sitting on the opposite bunk gave her a small, shy smile.

"Hi... How're you feeling?" He asked.

"Like I haven't slept... ever." She sat up slowly and rubbed her head. "Is everyone alright?"

"A little twitchy is all, but no actual damage." He grabbed a glass of water from the night stand and handed it to her.

"Thank you..." She sipped at it and sighed. "I need to stop doing that."

"Easier said than done?"

"Something like that. I couldn't do anything like that before... well until recently. Then, I guess you could say I had a bit of a shock and...now it runs away with itself sometimes." She smiled shyly back.

"It's OK. Come on, your brother will want to see you. They're ah, trying to work out what to do with the prisoner."

"Joy... what fun."

Wren followed him through the endless twisting corridors to a conference room. Thor moved immediately to her side and hugged her too him. "How do you feel?"

"Stupid, freakish... a little hungry." She smiled up at him and turned her head into his hand when he ruffled her hair.

"Then we shall feed you."

"I want to talk to him..." She said quietly.

"Agent Romanov is in with him now. I can have someone show you the way and you can go in when she's done." Fury said. "Nick Fury."

He offered her his hand and she shook it. "Thank you. She wont hurt him, will she?"

"Just his ego."

She snorted and shook her head. "For Loki the worst pain of all..."

"You don't have to, you know?" Thor said gently.

"Of course I do. Has he said anything?"

"Bluster mostly. You know what he's like."

"It would be a mistake to presume it all bluster, Thor. He has never been your equal in brute strength, but he plays his hand well, and he always has a plan." She said seriously.

"She's right." Thor conceded to the others. "No one knows him better."

"A few months ago I would have agreed with you. Now I think I know him not at all. Can someone take me to see him, please?"

She made the trip in silence, and passed Natasha at the door. She was in a hurry and Wren wondered what was wrong, but she didn't have time to think about it. Inside the room, Loki was being kept in a clear container, like an insect to be studied.

"I wondered if you'd come." He said from were he lay, flat on his back on the single bench seat in the cell. "I wondered if he'd let you."

"Why do you suddenly presume that Thor controls me?" She asked.

"Didn't he always?" Loki sat up and leaned forward wish his hands on his knees. "Didn't he reign you in, just like Odin, with his supposed love. You wanted so badly to be loved you bent yourself to their will gladly for the tiniest hint of affection."

"You decided this was a better way to go? Get people to love you by what? Not giving them any other choice? Love Loki, or die... do you feel like that's working well for you?" She asked sharply.

Loki shook his head. "You're choosing him..."

"Stop it! Stop making every conversation we have about him! This is not a choice between you and Thor, this isn't even a choice!" She shook her head and stared at him where he sat. "Don't you understand, this isn't a choice... it's what is. You came to Earth... you've been killing the children,"

"They are _**not **_your children!"

"Yes they are!" She yelled at him. "Odin never understood, nor Frigga, and I know you didn't either but I thought you at least believed. They are my children. They are my responsibility. This isn't a choice to be made, it's what is! I will protect them with my life, I will die for them, I will tear out my own heart and live hollow and empty if that's what you force me to do..." She had moved up to the glass and put her hands against it. "But it's_** not **_a choice... I can no more abandon them than I can live without breath..."

Loki stood and moved up to the glass. He put his hands against it opposite hers and almost fooled himself to think that they were touching."We could have ruled this world together," he said quietly.

Wren gave a small sob and tears escaped her eyes. "You have no idea just how true that is..." When he stared at her blankly she shook her head. "I could never stay in Asgard Loki. Didn't you know that? I was always going to have to come back. To take my place here. Thor was supposed to become the Allfather, he was supposed to grow up and rule well and we... you and I, we were supposed to come here. Open the mountain, and my people would love you and bend knee to you because they would see how happy you made me." She let her hands drop. "You were always meant to be King here... with me... but that's impossible now. Don't you understand? We remain to care for the children, to defend them. I can never let you have this world... not now."

The ship rocked and she stumbled slightly. '_Hulk is lose, I repeat the Hulk is lose_' said a voice over the intercom.

"I don't... I have to go."

"Don't!" Loki hit the glass with his fist. "Don't go!"

"What? Why?"

"You can't stop it now..."

Wren's eyes widened and she spun on her heel and ran.


	13. Chapter 13

The ship rocked again and Wren stumbled into a bulkhead and held on to keep from falling. She didn't know the way back, so she ran blindly, trying to find something she recognised. Instead, she heard the sickening sound of rending metal and followed that...

"Thor!" She called madly, even though she knew he almost certainly wouldn't hear her.

"Cerridwren! RUN!" It was Natasha. He scrabbled along a thin walkway and shoved at her. "Go go go!"

"What..." Wren stopped when the what became all too obvious.

A huge green shape smashed through the flooring and roared in rage and pain. The women scrambled up a ladder and Natasha pushed Wren on in front of her in their haste to escape until a red flash barrelled through the bulkhead, impacted the side of the great beast, and went straight through the opposite bulkhead, taking the monster with it.

"What manner of devil was that?"

"Dr Banner he... he..." Natasha was shaking terribly and she couldn't seem to move.

"That was... are you saying that thing was that nice man?"

"He changes, when he's angry."

"Oh my God, Thor!" Wren hurriedly climbed back down and carefully jumped through the hole that the two battling titans had left in the bulkhead.

"Wait! You can't!" She heard Natasha yell behind her, but she didn't stop. "What do I know... maybe she can." The spy muttered to herself and sank down to the floor.

The Hulk and Thor had smashed their way through the the hanger bay, and when Wren arrived appeared to be evenly matched. Thor beat on the great beast with his hammer, but not a scratch appeared on it, and the Hulk threw her brother about like a doll only to scream it's rage and frustration when he bounced up again.

"Thor!" She called and he glanced at her and waved an arm.

"Run!"

She shook her head, took a deep breath and ran... she ducked flying boxes and chunks of metal and came to a halt between the two battling powers. "STOP!" She screamed and held her hands up to the great green man.

Hulk blinked down at her and his whole body trembled, as though the energy within it was actively seeking a way out. He hunched over and roared into her face and then stopped and looked confused as she stood her ground.

"Stop..." She said more gently.

"Wren... what are you doing?" Thor said incredibly quietly behind her, afraid to break whatever spell she'd cast.

"I have no idea, but it worked on the others... and he's still a man." She answered without taking her eyes from the Hulk's face. "Shhh... everything is going to be alright." She took a slow, smooth step towards him and the Hulk shivered and shuffled back with another half roar. "Hey. It's OK. I'm here," she smiled gently and very very slowly she reached up and touched his hand.

Bruce Banner wasn't there, but whatever was there blinked down at her wit more clarity than it had ever known in its short life. The huge hand turned over and opened, and Wren put her hand in it trustingly.

"See...?" She said softly. "Thor, you should back away now. I can keep him calm, but I don't think," She stopped and her eyes widened as she saw off to her right, a small plane level itself with the window. "Oh NO!" She cried.

The Hulk saw it too, He grabbed Wren about the waist and turned his massive back to the window as the plane opened fire. The glass shattered and Thor dove to the side while Wren remained safely shielded by the vast expanse of green muscle. When the hail of bullets subsided, the Hulk roared, pushed Wren away from him with surprising gentleness, then turns and launched himself through the broken window onto the plane.

"NO! Bruce come back!" But either he couldn't hear her over the roar of wind and engine, or her effect on him was far too weak to be called a compulsion. "Oh no..."

"Wren! Are you hurt?" Thor was beside her, his hands skimmed over her shoulders and hair as though looking for wounds.

"No, no I'm fine. He... he wouldn't let me get hurt."

"You are going to have to explain how you do that eventually." Thor pointed out as they watched the plane spin out of control and the pilot eject.

"Is he going to be alright?" She asked.

"From what I understand, the Hulk is effectively immortal. I am more concerned about what he might land on." He hugged her to his side briefly. "Come, we will find him later. For now we must secure Loki."

"He knew." She said as they hurried through the ruined ship. "He knew this would happen. He tried to keep me from leaving... I think he was trying to protect me."

"Whatever madness has taken him, I do not believe he would ever willingly hurt you."

"He has no understanding of what hurts me, then." She sighed.

They paused at the sealed door to Loki's prison and looked at each other. "Are you alright?" Thor asked.

"No. But I will do what I have to."

The door opened, and Thor saw Loki, standing on the open threshold of his clear prison cell. With a roar, Thor launched himself forward before Wren could stop him and barrelled right through the illusion and into the cell. The real Loki, who stood by the controls, shut the cell door and grinned.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" He asked.

"Loki stop it!" Wren said as she moved into the room. A guard, his eyes pail blue, moved to point his gun at her. She held her hands up, "shh... it's alright..." she said quietly, but there was no indication that he heard her at all. Wren frowned and stared at the man, "What have you done to him?" She demanded.

"Only what you do to them... just, more forcefully." Loki told her.

"I ask them to listen to me, but I would never hurt them!"

"Instead of asking, I told him to listen to me... and I wont hurt him either." Loki shrugged.

Thor smashed his hammer into the side of the cell, and a spider web crack appeared in the glass. The locks which held the cell in place moved and Thor stopped cold.

"You know, the humans think us immortal... shall we test that?" Loki asked lightly as his hand hovered over a large red button on the control panel.

"Stop! Loki just stop it, please!" Wren begged.

The strangely hypnotised man guarding her collapsed and for a moment Wren was half afraid she'd done something to him, but then Agent Coulson was there. "Step away please." He said calmly.

"Please be careful." Wren begged him.

"I wont hurt him unless I have to miss." Coulson assured her.

"I meant for yourself," she moved along beside him towards Loki, who stood stock still with his hands clearly out in front of him.

"NO!" Wren heard Thor cry out before she realised anything was wrong. Coulson blinked in confusion beside her and looked over at her face sadly, before slipping from the point of Loki's sceptre and sliding down to the floor.

"No... no oh no." Wren dropped down beside him and touched his face gently. "It's alright. It's alright... I can... oh Gods, I..." She put her other hand over the wound of his chest and felt the slow, steady pulsing of his blood as it left his body. "I'm so sorry..."

Coulson coughed weakly and Wren turned, intent of screaming at Loki, only to find him back at the control panel. "Goodbye brother." He pressed the button, and Thor tumbled from sight.

"NO!" Wren scooted to the edge of the opening in the floor and watched as the cell tumbled end over end towards the coastline far below. "What have you done, what have you DONE! You're insane!"

Without consciously deciding to, Wren reached out her arms, her eyes fixed on the tumbling cell. She made a scooping gesture, and a cold sweat formed on her brow. She set her mouth in a grim line and made the gesture again. Far below, the water began to surge... She gasped with the effort and scooped again. This time, Loki could see a massive surge of water rise in a column out of the ocean and reach up towards the tumbling cell. One more gesture and the water seemed to cradle the tumbling shape, and then bowl it gently onto the land.

Wren let out a low cry and fell backwards away from the opening to land with her head against Coulson's leg. She trembled violently and made sick, heaving sounds as though she were going to be ill. Loki stared at her for a long quiet minute.

"You're going to lose..." Coulson said calmly, as his own trembling hand reached out to gently stroke Wren's hair.

"Oh..." Loki said distractedly. He tore his eyes away from Wren to look at Coulson's face. "Your hero's are scattered, your flying fortress falls from the sky... and your Goddess and protector lies, trembling, at my feet... where exactly is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction..." Coulson pulled the trigger on the massive gun in his lap and the bolt of ruddy orange energy sent Loki flying through the bulkhead behind him. "Shhh..." He said softly to the violently trembling woman beside him. "Everything's going to be OK."

"Isn't... isn't that... my line?" She stammered, still unable to move.

"You can say it next time." He breathed... the light in his eyes already dimming. "What's death like...?" He asked softly, and quite calmly. "You're supposed to be a Goddess, right?"

Wren looked up and him and struggled to move her arm so she could grip his hand tightly. "Humans don't realise that there's no difference between breath, and air. It's just whether or not it's inside you." She smiled weakly. "When it's outside... it could be anything's breath. It's potential, without limitation... when it's breath, it's limited. Life is the same. When it's inside you, it's limited, finite. You only experience it as one thing... when it leave you, your life becomes potential, unlimited and free. It can be anything, so, in effect, it's everything."

"That doesn't sound so bad..." He said weakly.

"No... it's not so bad." She said with tears leaking from her eyes.

"Then why are you crying?"

"Because we will still miss you, my darling. Tears for the dead are not for their loss but for ours... We're selfish that way." She said with a soft sob.

"Oh... it's alright. All things considered, I forgive you."

She laughed weakly and gripped his hand until Fury appeared up the stairs and started barking orders. Medics were called, and both she and the limitations which used to belong to the life of Phil Coulson, were loaded onto medibeds and wheeled away. Sometimes later she awoke in a starkly lit room, with Steve standing over her, one hand gripping hers tightly.

"Hey there," He said with a slight smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Why does everyone always ask me that when I open my eyes? How do I look?"

Steve gave a short, subdued laugh. "You look like hell... but it always seems to be the thing to say, doesn't it?"

"I feel like I reached out and lifted half a million tons of seawater... like hell comes pretty close." She struggled to sit up and Steve helped her carefully.

"Do you need anything?"

"I need to find my brother. And Bruce, he fell... and we need to find Loki."

"I have no idea how we're going to do that." Steve admitted.

"Neither do I." She said. "But we have too... All this time." She shook her head. "All this time I thought that somehow, somehow it would be alright. He'd explain, and it would all make sense, he'd talk to me and there would be some explanation, some sanity... but there isn't. He means to take this world, by whatever means he must..."

"Can I ask you something, ma'am?" Steve said shyly.

"Of course!"

"... are you a Goddess...? Really?"

Wren frowned. "I don't know that I've ever really thought about it that way before... Coulson thought so... before he," She stopped and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Not to put any undue pressure on you ma'am... but, I think I believe in you." He told her conspiratorially. Wren gave a small sob and put her arms around his neck and hid her face in his chest. "Which... make this situation slightly unnerving..."

She laughed against him and looked up. "Alright. Go get the metal man."

"Tony? Really?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Be nice." She chided him gently. "The Chitauri are coming and we need everyone we can get." She hopped down off the bed and pulled on the harness which held her swords.

"Where are you going?"

"To get Natasha." She said simply. "Go on, fetch Tony. My brother and the Hulk will have to find us on their own."

"You think Banner will come?"

"I'm sure of it."


	14. Chapter 14

Wren was directed to an isolation cell in the medbay... inside was Natasha, talking to one of the men Loki had been controlling. She knocked and waited for the door to open.

"We're going after Loki." She said when the door opened.

Neither occupant seemed surprised. "What's the plan?" the man on the bed asked.

"Are you alright?" Wren countered.

"I'll be fine."

"Come on, Steve is getting Tony..."

On the flight deck, Steve met them and led them onto a plane. "Do we have any idea where we're going?" Barton asked.

"Stark worked it out. We're going to New York – he's going to use the ARC reactor to kick start the cube."

"Wait." Wren was stood on the deck outside the plane, with another falcon resting placidly on her arm. She whispered to it for a few moments and then let it go.

"What was that?" Steve asked.

"I told him to tell the Dannan to prepare for war..."

"The... your people you mean? They're here? On Earth?" Steve asked as the plane closed.

"It's more complicated than that. They're here... but they're not _here _here. We sealed ourselves off from you."

"Why would you do that?"

Wren smiled at him. "I don't want you to take offence, but... you're children. We were here long before you, and... when we saw the way you were with the Asgard, we knew you'd never grow up the way you were meant to if we were here. You needed to find your own path, but we couldn't just leave you. What if you needed us? So we sealed ourselves under the mountain and we watched, and we waited. We knew, one day, we'd be able to come out, and we could all live here together."

"So, what, you're asking them to come and help us?" Steve asked.

"Well, no not exactly. I'm telling them to get ready."

"You can just order them around like that?"

Wren blushed. "I'm ah... I'm their Queen. They haven't seen me in a long time but, strictly speaking... I'm in charge. They'll do as I ask. That's not the problem."

"There's a problem? I like the sound of having an army of ancient god's on our side, to tell you the truth."

"Well... they can't just come out, it's not like opening a door. I'll have to hold the gateway open for them. Which will mean I can't help you. It's... well, holding open a door through space and time with your body isn't exactly comfortable." She patted his arm. "It's alright. I'll work it out."

"Hey." He stopped her before she could sit down. "Are you going to be OK? This wont..."

"I'll be fine, _cariad_. Don't fret."

She spent the rest of the trip in silence, her hands clasped in her lap and her eyes locked on some unfathomable middle distance.

In New York, Tony landed at Stark tower and Jarvis automatically removed his armour as he walked along the platform.

"Have you come to beg?" Loki asked with a smile.

"No no, I'm going to threaten you."

"You should have left the suit on for that."

Tony shrugged and walked behind his bar. "Drink?" He asked. Loki waved him off.

"Are you stalling...?"

"No, threatening, threatening." He took a sip of his bourbon and smiled. "You're on sooo much trouble right now."

"Oh really? Are you so great a threat?"

"Not me! Well, not just me. See, that tiny woman is pretty confident that she saved your brother, you know, the God of Thunder, so he'll be along any time now. And, dude," Tony held up the glass in a toast. "Kudos on landing an actual Goddess, you know, even if you did foul it up after. She's great, pretty pissed at you though. I could do without having her refer to me as one of her children quite so much, little hard on the ego, but hey, in the end, she's gonna kick your ass so I don't really feel like I can complain too much, you know?"

"You know nothing about her." Loki growled in a low voice.

"I know a damn sight more than you do, pal." Tony put the glass down and walked around the bar. "When you open the gates of hell, and let an army of monster aliens lose on this city... what is it _**you**_ think she's gonna do? Roll over and play dead?"

"She cannot stop them."

"Then she wont... but smart money says, she's still gonna kick your ass."

"I have an army."

"She has a Hulk." Tony said smugly. Loki raised an eyebrow and Tony grinned. "Oh, didn't know that? Yeah, apparently she's got all kinds of talents. Sings the birds down from the trees, makes foul weather when she's pissed and uses huge mutated scientists like her personal body guard. You're toast."

With an angry snarl, Loki lifted Tony up and threw him out the window.

"Jarvis, Deploy! DEPLOY!" A flying pod knocked Loki off his feet as it flew out the window after Stark, and a suit built itself around him in mid air. He avoided the pavement my seconds only and flew back up to hover outside the window. "Shouldn't have killed Phil... we really liked that guy." He then blasted Loki off his feet.

Overhead, the portal began to open, and a section of the midday sky turned from blue to black. Through it, came alien beings on small one and two man craft. Stark swore under his breath and left Loki when he'd fallen to fly straight up and into their path.

Spread below him, like a demented landscape, Loki watched as the Chitauri began their attack on the city. Overhead, Iron Man was trying to stem the tide, but Loki held no fear that it would be enough... this was happening. Fires were already burning along the roads and in buildings... he had sold his soul, and this is what it would buy him.

"Loki! Shut down the teseract, or I will destroy it!" Thor had landed silently behind him.

"There is no stopping it... there is only the war." Loki levelled his sceptre at his brother, that manic gleam in his eyes again.

"So be it." Loki launched himself from the walkway above, and they battled back and forth on the lower landing. "You can't come back from this." Thor hissed.

"There was never any going back, brother." Loki answered. "I'm a monster..."

The plane carrying the others levelled off and Loki snarled and aimed at it. He fired a blast of blue energy into the engine and the plane began to spin out of control. "NO! Wren is with them!" Thor yelled, but there was nothing to be done. The plane spiralled downwards to crash land below them. Both men stopped their fighting as the back of the jet opened. First came two figures in black, Barton and Natasha, then a blue form with a shield. Both men held their breath until, a moment later, a smaller form in brown leather, with two swords strapped to her back stumbled out. "You could have killed her! Then what would you kingdom mean? She could still die here, trying to save your soul!"

"She's not doing any of this for me!" Loki yelled. "She's doing it for them!"

"If you really believe that then you're a fool... and you never deserved her."

"Oh but you do." Loki swung wildly. "Perfect Thor, Mighty Thor. Oh the Allfather would love that, would he not? That was what he wanted, wasn't it? WASN'T IT! A petite and sedate wife for his perfect son..."

"Where does any of this come from? She never looked at me twice, we were never meant to be, she _**loves**_ you. In your madness now she loves you still!" Thor jammed Loki's spear under his arm and held it faces so their faces were close together. "We can stop this, together. You can come home."

Loki stared at him for what felt like a long time. "I have no home..." He hissed eventually and jammed a small blade he'd concealed in his hand into a gap in Thor's armour. When his brother let him go, Loki ducked and rolled sideways off the building and landed safely on the back of one of the Chitauri flyers.

"Damn." Thor groaned and jumped from the building to join the others on the road at it's base. He hurried to Wren who put her arms around him and held him tight. "Are you hurt?"

"No, you?"

"A scratch, nothing more, and I intend to scratch him back as soon as the opportunity presents itself."

Wren looked up the street. "We have to stop them..." she swallowed hard as she watched people running and screaming. "They're so frightened..."

"Can you call the Dannan's now?" Steve asked.

Thor looked down at her. "Do you even know how to do that?"

"I understand how it's supposed to work." She kicked her shoes off and took a deep breath, but stopped before she sat down. "Look!"

A lone motorcycle approached them up the road, with a dishevelled and dirty Bruce Banner on it. "This all seems terrible." He said when he stopped.

"You might want to get angry now..." Steve suggested.

Bruce looked at Wren who gave him a slight smile. "I remember you," he said. "I never remember anything when I change, but I remember you."

"I can't help you now, Bruce. You have to do this yourself... I'm... I'm not going to be much use to anyone for a while..." She sat on the ground and put her palms flat to the concrete on either side of herself. "I'd suggest standing back a bit. I'm not sure how many will come, or how they'll get here."

"_Guys, a little help. What the hell are you doing just standing around down there?_" Stark demanded over the coms.

"Go on, I'll be alright." Wren took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The ground around her began to shake, and her face contorted with incredible concentration. The others backed away as shadows seemed to form around her. Dozens at first, then all up the length of the road around them, shadows which seemed to congeal into substance as they watched. The figures wore armour like Wren's, and carried swords or pikes or maces. Wren whimpered and Thor knelt beside her.

"What can I do?" He asked.

"Go. Save the children." She said through tightly gritted teeth. Then, with a wave of energy that pushed him back away from her, she screamed in pain and the shadows flickered and became real.

"Queen's guard, positions!" A woman with a polished shining helmet ordered. Three of the warriors formed up around Wren, who continued to scream. "Defend the children." She ordered the others, who immediately fanned out into the city. "We have little time, Asgardian." The woman said to Thor who picked himself up and looked at Wren with something very like fear. "She will not last long. Do what must be done."

"I can't leave her!"

"Then we will all die and this will be for nothing." The woman said coldly. "We will protect her, stop your brother." Her face softened somewhat. "I am Angharad Goldenhand... head of the Queen's guard. On my life, we will keep her safe. Go."


	15. Chapter 15

The battle raged over some square miles. The Chitauri, confident in their own superiority over humanity, were initially beaten back by the addition of almost a hundred Dannan warriors, each with at least some ability to work the elements around them. More than a thousand years in advance of the foe they had been told to expect. Still, Loki had ordered a full assault, and the Dannan's were being hard pressed. At the foot of Stark tower, their Queen, a woman they didn't know, was screaming. The only child of Tyr Keyturner, the only living Dannan who could hold open the gate for them, torn at relentlessly by the very nature of the universe as it tried to seal the rift and send them back under the Mountain.

Wren would claim later that she didn't remember any of it. That she went into a trance, and whatever she may have said or done, she wasn't really there... From above the battle, Loki could hear her screaming. It was almost a relief when Romanov blew the teseract and closed the portal...

"We have to go." Angharad told Thor as she gestured for her warriors to form up. Some carried the injured, a few carried the bodies of dead friends. "She suffers while we remain."

"Will she be alright?"

"She is Cerridwren Battleborn." Angharad said, as though that explained everything. "I am confident we will meet again, Asgardian. I expect you to protect my Queen."

"I will. My word on it."

They clasped hands and then Angharad leaned over Wren where she sat, all her muscles tensed and trembling, her eyes screwed shut tight and an endless scream fit to tear her apart... "CLOSE IT!" Wren's eyes popped open, she lurched forward and vomited through the shadow of Angharad that remained. "I was there when you were born," the shade said quietly. "Your mother would be so proud of you..." Then it was gone, along with all the others. Wren looked up at Thor weakly, then vomited again and toppled sideways.

"Wren!" He knelt and pulled her up into his arms. Over them, the massive form of the Hulk blotted out the sun as he leaned over them.

"It's alright big guy," Steve said as he came over, Tony beside him in his banged up suit. "She's going to be fine... isn't she?"

"I have no way to know. She is alive, her pulse is strong... if she needed more than rest and care I presume Angharad would have told us." Thor said as he stood with her in his arms. The Hulk grunted and held his massive arms out but Thor shook his head and took a step back. The Hunk grunted and glowered at him.

"He might be better to carry her, Thor." Steve said gently. "He doesn't need both arms to climb, and you still need to do something about Loki..."

Thor looked intensely discomforted, but he handed her over. With strange gentleness for such a huge being, Hulk lay Wren over his arm and cradled her as if she were a baby. He grunted and looked up at Stark Tower.

"Alright. Let's go."

At the top of the tower, in the ruined remains of Tony's entertainment lounge, Loki had crawled his way to the steps and leaned against them, cut and bleeding. His eyes sought out Wren, unconscious and cradled in the Hulk's massive arms. "Is she alright?" No one answered, and the panic in Loki's eyes could not have been faked. "Thor! Does she live? Give me that, at least!"

"She lives." Thor said shortly.

"Ah, guys?" Tony said. "Anyone have any idea how to get her off him?" They all looked at the Hulk, who was glaring at Loki darkly. "Great. Now we just have to sit around and wait for him to chill out again."

"Will she be OK? I mean, does she need medical attention?" Steve asked.

"Oh, and you would even begin to know how to give it to her?" Loki scoffed. "What were you doing, giving her to that to hold?"

"I trust _**him**_ with her more than I trust you." Thor growled.

Wren made a low, pathetic sound and the Hulk twitched at the unexpected noise and looked down at her. He made a low, animal noise and looked completely astonished when her pale, trembling hand reached up and touched his face. Slowly, he seemed to melt down... he wrapped his other arm around her to take her weight and within a few moments it was Bruce looking down at her in wonder. "Hey..." He said.

"You're still bigger than me." She mumbled, half delirious.

Bruce chuckled and nodded helplessly. "Yeah... I suppose I am..." He just stood there, holding her against his bare chest.

"Great, bring her over here. She can lay on the couch." Tony gestured them towards the black leather lounge and Bruce carried her over and lay her down gently.

"Do you need anything?" Bruce asked her.

Wren shook her head slowly, then frowned. "Maybe a bucket... I might not be done being ill... better to have it and not need it than need it and ruin Mr Stark's carpet..." Tony grabbed an ice bucket from behind the bar and with a perfectly straight face, emptied it out on the floor and put it next to her head. She laughed weakly. "Did we win?"

"We did." Thor moved over to sit beside her. His huge hand smoothed her hair back and he smiled down at her.

"Loki?" She asked... and her voice was so soft and frightened that Loki felt vaguely sick.

"He's alive."Thor said shortly.

"Is he hurt?"

"He will be making the trip home to Asgard with us... that is, if you're still coming back." He looked down at her carefully. Wren let her eyes fall closed and didn't answer.

Loki was secured in the prototype shell of an ARC reactor, and for the first few hours he kept his mind occupied being righteously angry with everyone he could think of. After that, he thought about what going back to Asgard could mean. Finally, when there was nothing left to think about, he thought about Wren, and the way her screams had echoed off the glass and steel of the buildings until it had felt like she was inside his mind giving voice to the damage he'd done her.

Eventually, Thor came and roughly cleaned the worst of Loki's wounds with a hot wet cloth. "How is she?"

"Alive."

"And well?"

"How well do you imagine she can possibly be?" Thor snapped angrily. "According to mother she went from blissfully happy, to pariah over night. Then, after waiting for you, she discovered that not only did you not come back for her with some magic explanation which would fix everything, but you came to her home world and began killing those she feels responsible for." He stood to leave. "The truth is that I have not laid eyes on the sister I grew up with since the night we left for Jotenheim. You destroyed her before I returned, and I do not know if I will ever see her again."

In the tower, Wren sat on the black leather couch and looked out of the broken windows on the city below. Bruce sat beside her and fidgeted with his glasses.

"He's ready." Thor announced as he entered. "Have you completed the container?"

"It's ready to go, though I only half understand what we've built." Bruce admitted.

"Then I must get Loki home." He moved around so that he could see Wren's face. "And you must make a choice..."

"I know." She sighed, and without looking reached out and put a hand on Bruce's to still his fidgeting. "You don't need me, you know. You worked with the others just fine, and I wasn't there."

"Yes you were..." He disagreed. "I could always hear you, hear you screaming."

"Shh," she smiled at him gently. "I can always come back. Any time you should need me, any of you, I _**can**_ come back."

"How will you know?"

She brought his hand up and kissed the back of it. "I have a friend with very good vision. I will ask him to watch over you, so if you need me...you can call."

"Like a prayer."

"I'm not a god, Bruce. We're different, but we're not that different."

"I'm not so sure about that." He sighed. "I wish you'd stay."

He repeated those words the next day, in the sunshine at the edge of the park where they had gathered to say their goodbyes. He looked down at her with sad brown eyes. "I wish you'd stay."

Loki couldn't speak, but he rolled his eyes.

"I know. I'm sorry that I can't. I have to see Frigga, and talk to the Allfather... the Earth must remain inviolate, and I mean to see that it will." She turned to join Thor, then stopped and rushed back to Bruce. She put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek warmly. "You are a great champion." She whispered. "And when I woke up in your arms, I was not afraid." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then threw caution to the wind and kissed her lips gently. When he pulled back a deep blush had bloomed on her cheek and she smiled shyly. "You know... you're the first human I ever kissed..."

"Pretty sure I'm not going to get the chance at too many more goddesses..."

"Take care of the children while I'm gone." She told him. "I will see you again." She backed away and bowed to him. When she turned, Thor had raised an eyebrow at her, but he said nothing. He lifted the arm which held his hammer and she slid under it to stand on one of his feet.

"Ready?" He asked her.

"I think so." She looked around her at the others and wiped the tears from her face.

"Come home soon." Steve said with a smile. "We'll be waiting for you."

Thor twisted the handle on to container, and the teseract burst into life. A great light surrounded them and Wren felt Thor's arm tighten around her. There was a sensation of rushing wind and moving at great speed, and then it all stopped... and Hymdall was smiling at them.


	16. Chapter 16

Word hard gone ahead of them, and the throne room was lined with people when the party approached. A contingent of guards, led by Eric, had come to meet them and accompany them back. It had been difficult for Wren not to hug them each in turn, so glad was she to see them again... but she wasn't just a princess any more. At the foot of the stairs which led to the throne where the Allfather sat, his face a promise of retribution, Thor stepped forward and bowed.

"Father, I must present Cerridwren Battleborn," he paused for a moment while his father looked confused. "Queen of the Dannan's..."

Odin stared down at his foster daughter, who fought to keep her face calm. He descended the stairs slowly and stopped before her. "Your Majesty." His deep voice rumbled. Wren stared up at him, kept her shoulders back and her chin raised, but her bottom lip began to tremble and her eyes shone... "my dear beloved," the Allfather breathed and wrapped his armoured arms tightly around her in a crushing embrace. "I'm so sorry..."

Frigga had one hand over her mouth and tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched her husband embrace their foster daughter.

"Ask him how long he's known." Loki said bitingly after Thor removed the gag.

"Loki stop, don't make it worse!" Frigga begged.

"Define 'worse'. I am imprisoned, a monster, reviled, and Cerridwren has not a single living family member left... hasn't had for fifty years. Do you really ask us to believe that the Allfather didn't _**know**_?" Loki grinned maniacally.

"You are poison." Odin growled at Loki over Wren's head. He continued to hold her against his chest. "The pain and suffering you have spread wherever you go must cease. Take him away."

The following hours were a blur to Wren. The Royal family retired to the Queens rooms and Wren fell into Frigga's arms as though she intended to stay there forever. The women sank onto a couch before the fire, and Odin, in an unusual display of tenderness, fetched a heavy crochet blanket and tucked it around them gently.

"Did Tyr really die 50 years ago?" Odin asked his son quietly as they withdrew to give the women some privacy.

"So Wren was told... although she was told that by a bird..." Thor looked at his father. "I had no idea she was so powerful..."

"That was as her father wished." Odin said softly. "For all intents and purposes, the Dannan's will cease to exist without her. Trapped in their self-imposed exile forever. It was a secret he was prepared to sacrifice watching her grow up to protect."

"This is why you never let her leave Asgard before... you couldn't risk anything happening to her."

"Until she has children, she is the most important Dannan alive."

Thor took a sip of the drink his father passed him. "She was incredibly brave."

Odin gave a small smile. "That is what I have always been afraid of... Cowardly daughters make a father's life much simpler."

They shared a low chuckle, and Thor felt closer to his father than he ever had before.

On the couch, Wren settled down into Frigga's arms and closed her eyes. "You've changed a great deal..." The Queen said quietly.

"I need to hear you say it," Wren whispered.

"Say what, my darling?"

"I..." She shook her head and kept her eyes closed tightly. "I know it's madness, I know better... but I need to hear you say that you didn't know. That you and the Allfather didn't keep this from me..."

"No, my darling. We didn't know..." She smoothed Wren's hair and pressed her cheek against the top of her head. "Communication with the Dannan's was always rare. We cannot reach them, they have to reach out to us. It may be, without him, they cannot contact us? Or it may be your father needed you to stay away, that he was protecting you... I'm so sorry, Wren... After everything..."

"He's quite mad, isn't he?" Wren asked, and they both knew they were no longer talking about her father.

"I honestly don't know."

The next day, at sunrise, Eric knocked on Wren's door and informed her she was late for training... They exchanged no smiles, but after she'd hurriedly dressed in black leather and they made their way through the palace, she reached on and put a hand on his arm. "Thank you..."

"My lady."

Thus began the routine for the following weeks. Thor, predictably, was constantly away, cleaning up Loki's mess across the realms. He came home battered, sometimes bleeding, but in generally good spirits as he reconnected with his companions. Though she now understood the reasons for her general state of borderline incarceration, Wren still found it almost intolerable. Still, the Allfather had given up attempting to keep her from the training yard and the company of the guards. He did however drop hints that her house arrest might end if she were to find a husband and have children.

"You're distracted." Eric said as he swatted her hard across the thigh with the flat of his sword.

"Ah!" She twitched to the right, then dove left, rolled past him only to spin and poke his left buttock with the point of her sword. "Thor is coming home today. He's almost finished... then he'll be going back to Earth..."

"You're going to go with him aren't you?"

"It's a safe realm now, and I made promises to people..." She smiled slightly and had to dodge as he used her preoccupation to try to disarm her.

"A gentleman, perhaps?" He asked lightly as they continued to circle each other.

"Ha! My love life is such a fiasco that I imagine it will be a simple case of drawing a name from a hat to find out who will father the next Dannan key." She shook her head and let the points of her swords drop in an indication she wanted to pause the fight. "Obviously, I am the very worst judge of character, and make terrible choices." She rolled her eyes. "I don't suppose you're looking to start a family, Eric?" She laughed at her own joke. "No... not Eric, you must have a bevy of tall, blond Asgardian girls who long for nothing more than to whisper sweet nothings in your ear. You don't need some midget Dannan who could barely reach it."

Eric sheathed his sword and looked at her seriously. "You are the Queen of the Dannan's. The beloved daughter of Odin... it's likely you are, in fact, the single most sought after woman in all the realms."

"You're too nice for your own good, you know that? Honestly, how do you ever kill anyone being sweet like you are?" She smiled and gave him a one armed hug. "Come on. Let's go get some food and I'll see if I can manage more than two drinks before I pass out this time."

"Never try to out drink a guardsman, my lady."

Wren was a confused and confusing drunk. Her natural nature being happy and friendly she went through an initial stage of joy. Hugs were bestowed freely on the guards with whom she was familiar, and they took her exuberant affection with easy laughter. She belonged there with them. Eventually, however, a cup or two later, she would sit quietly at the end of a table as thought she wished to disappear from view, her expression drawn and sad, and Eric would know that it was time to get her away to her chambers before...

"How can I be so unutterably stupid..." She whispered.

None of the guards said anything, nor paid any mind, when Eric helped her to her feet and ushered her from the small hall they used for their dining. In higher circles, they all knew, the whispered would already have begun... but the guardsmen knew better. Wren was far too heartbroken, and Eric too honourable to take advantage.

"Here we are, my lady." Eric said gently as he pushed open the door to her chambers. "Should I fetch you water? Or perhaps the Prince to tend you?"

Wren shook her head and sat heavily on a couch before the fire. "Can you answer me honestly, Eric? As my friend."

"Always, your Majesty."

She groaned. "And for once, since there is no one else here, will you _**please**_ call me by my name."

He smiled gently and sat on the chair across from her. "What is it Cerridwren?"

"Better..." she grumbled, "if not quite there." She sighed and looked him in the eye. "Am I... is there something wrong with me Eric? Am I stupid or, or gullible, or weak?"

"No, my friend, none of those..."

"Then what is it? Why am I... What am I _**doing**_ here?" She huffed and threw herself back into the couch, her legs splayed out before her. "I know I should go home. It is stupid and selfish to stay here, and yet I do not go. I remain. I wake in the mornings and spend my days with the guards and endure the endless whispering of ladies dressed in silks... and for what? For what, Eric?" She leaned forward again and put her face in her hands.

"Perhaps... perhaps you should go and speak with him." Eric suggested gently. "I know you haven't since you came back. Just as I know he sits in his cell and pretends disinterest in everything, but his eyes still fly to the stairs when he hears the fall of feet... as though he is waiting for someone in particular..."

"I can't." She whispered through her hands. "You are my friend, and treat me kindly, but in truth I _**am**_ weak. And foolish. And lost... I loved a man who may never have existed at all and yet I cannot accept that he is gone."

"He existed, Wren," Eric said gently and reached out to put a hand on her knee. "We could all see it, even when you were young. How he would help you up when you fell, or wait for you while Thor and his companions ran on ahead. It was real... as to what happened after... it's not my place to speculate."

"But you have, haven't you?"

He gave a low laugh. "I think men can do foolish, mad things, because they are afraid. Sometimes, when he is afraid of battle, a man will sometimes run alone into the fray as though the only way to survive his fear is to embrace it's inevitability."

"And what is it you think Loki has embraced?"

"Being alone... being believed a monster by those he loves." Eric sighed and patted her knee before he got to his feet. "Drink some water, your Majesty." He laughed when she made a face at his regression to using her title. "And tomorrow, you should consider what it would take for you to embrace your own fear..."

"I thought I had."

"Not hardly, my lady. You're not afraid that it was all a lie, that would make things simpler. You're afraid that the man you love is sitting alone and broken in a cell waiting for you." She toppled sideways with a groan and hugged her legs to her chest. Eric gave her a weak smile and pulled the throw blanket from the back of the couch and spread it over her gently.

"What do I do Eric?"

"I would tell anyone else they had two options, let him drown or save him... but something tells me you only have one." He patted her shoulder.


	17. Chapter 17

** Authors note: From here on there are spoilers for Dark World (for anyone who hasn't seen it.) Also, on a personal note, this is like, the lease popular story I've ever done, but I can't seem to stop until I finish it. If you happen to have a random fleeting thought while reading, I'd love to hear about it in Review. No pressure though. I'm going to get there on way or another.**

"My lady!" There was someone pounding on the door, but Wren rolled over and tried to ignore it. "My lady! You must awake!" Eric gave up and opened the door to find her exactly where he'd left her the night before, curled up on the couch fully clothed.

"You're a cruel man, Eric Yarvigson..." Wren groaned as she pulled the blanket over her head.

"Many would say so, but never to you. You must awake, you're brother is returning from Earth!"

"What?" She sat up too quickly and the world spun violently so that she lurched to the side and had to fight the urge to vomit. "He... what? What's happened?"

"My understanding is sketchy at best my lady, Hymdall sent me word and said you should come immediately. He said... Thor is bringing her back here."

"Oh by all the powers of heaven," she toppled off the couch and struggled to her feet. "Boots. Where are my boots!" Eric scooped them up and handed them to her. "What is he thinking? The Allfather wont like it. He wont, and he'll glower her great Odin frown at her and..." She continued to mutter angrily to herself, though it was at least as much because she was upset he'd gone without her as at his questionable intelligence bringing a human to Asgard. "Do I look presentable?" She asked as she stood.

"You look pale as a spirit and fit to sleep for a week." He glanced around and scooped up her black cloak. "Here. With any luck they will think you simply imposing, rather than indisposed." He attached it to her shoulders and gave an encouraging nod. "I suggest you run, Hymdall intimated it would be back presently."

"Run he says," she rolled her eyes and managed a weak laugh. "Alright... run it is."

Initially the run was painful, but by the time she approached the palace end of the rainbow bridge the worst of her indisposition seemed to have sweat from her body and she made a note to herself to thank Eric for everything when she saw him next. Thor walked across the bifrost, his arm protectively around the shoulders of a woman with long hair.

"Brother, this is madness, the Allfather,"

"Wren." Thor said shortly. "She needs help."

Wren stopped and looked at Jane properly for the first time. Her eyes softened and she held out her hand. "I'm sorry... For all the realms I wouldn't have you think I'm not pleased to meet you at last, but once again my brother has done a stupid thing! She can't be here, Thor."

"She must, there's something WRONG with her, Wren."

She frowned and held up her hands. "Excuse me," she mumbled and Jane blinked as the little woman moved her hands through the air around her face and head. "What the devil is that..." She glanced over her shoulder. "Alright, alright get her inside and to the healers. I will ask Eric to delay the Allfather as best her can."

"Thank you, sister."

"Oh just go. And don't think I'm not wroth with you for going to Earth without me!" She yelled after him as he hurried off.

She rejoined them at the healers shrine some time later. "Eric is loyal as a dog, but he is the worst liar in all the realms, I doubt we have much time. How is she?"

"We are unsure." The healer said. "Do you know anything more about their physiology?"

"She should effectively be the same as me." Wren said. "But her brain will activate in sections only as needed, rather than running all together. Physiologically we are more or less identical."

"You're human?" Jane stammered, the first words Wren had heard from her.

"No, my darling, but my people are of the Earth, like you." She smiled gently.

"She should not be here!"

"Oh now we're for it." Wren muttered as she squared her shoulders and turned to look at the Allfather, who had barged in.

"Father, she needs help, something is,"

"It is not our providence to provide lesser races with medical assistance, Thor! They look after themselves. Your attention would be better placed at home." Odin rumbled. Behind him, Eric stood at attention but his eyes sought her out and were deeply apologetic. "Get her out of here and back to her world. They are best equipped to help her."

"Father!"

"Allfather!" Wren said firmly. "The children are my responsibility," she started only to have run run across her,

"Then you may treat them with your own skills, and on your own world!" He hissed. "Do not bring them here. And do not think I am unaware of exactly who that is!"

"She is human, and mine! And that it matters nothing to you that she beloved by two of your children speaks volumes of the Allfather's character!" She yelled at him.

Behind the Allfather, Eric made a strangled noise and swallowed hard. Odin glowered down at her. "Thor has responsibilities, if he would take his more seriously, I might be in a better position to accommodate yours."

"Accommodate?"

"Get her out of here!" The Allfather ordered Eric.

The guardsman took a deep breath and stepped up beside Jane, who was trembling. "I will not hurt you," he said as gently as he could manage as he reached to lift her down off the table.

"I wouldn't do that..." Thor warned, but too late. A wave of energy erupted from her body and sent all but Thor and Odin spinning to the ground. "I told you, she needs help."

Odin gave her a cursory examination and turned and stalked from the room. Thor immediately followed him and Jane made to do the same but Wren put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay with me..." She said gently. "Trust me, the less you are in the Allfather's line of sight today, the better for us all."

"Why does he hate me...?" Jane asked as Wren helped her down.

"He doesn't hate you, I promise. He's... well he's a gruff old man at the best of times, and Asgard has long believed itself the pinnacle of life in the universe. They place very little importance on anyone who isn't considered their equal." She smiled. "Come on. We'll go somewhere safe."

"Safe?"

Wren laughed. "I mean somewhere the Allfather wont think to look. Come on, I'll look after you."

"You were in New York, weren't you? I saw you on TV." Jane said as they walked. "No one knows who you are though..."

"My name is Cerridwren. I was raised here, with Thor." She shot a sideways look at Jane, who blushed under the examination. "You've been incredibly good for him, you know?"

"I don't know about that... he seems to be in a lot of trouble right now, because of me."

"That's nothing new. Thor and the Allfather are at odds every other week, they always have been. The Allfather is... well, he has definite plans for his children, and it irks him greatly when we don't follow along." She led Jane down through the palace and into the training yard. Across the grass, and into the small hall that the guardsmen used for taking their meals.

"Where are we?" Jane asked.

"This is where **I** hide from the Allfather," Wren laughed and gestured for Jane to sit. "Don't worry, in my memory he's never come down here, but Thor will know where to look for us."

"Wren! I'm so sorry," Eric hurried over and took his helmet off. He looked apologetically at Jane who had tensed at his arrival.

"You did the best you could." Wren patted his arm and nodded to the bench beside her. "Jane, this is Eric. He is my dearest friend, though he'd blush terribly to tell you so himself. Eric, this is Jane Foster."

"Yes ma'am." He inclined his head politely. "The Allfather will be looking for you shortly. He is conferring with Thor in the library, and their expressions are not light."

"Thor will know where we are." Wren said airily. "I'd rather keep Jane out of the Allfather's sight as much as possible... I think that moment when he must stop thinking of me as his baby and start thinking of me as a Queen is rapidly approaching... and we'll neither of us enjoy it over much."

"You'll risk the Allfather's wrath for a single human?" Eric asked. "No offence meant ma'am," he said to Jane.

"Oh no, none at all." She muttered under her breath and Wren grinned at her.

"They're each as important to me as my own breath. I know you don't understand that, none of you, but you must accept that it's true." She put her hand affectionately on Eric's arm.

"You're going to get me into trouble, my lady."

"And one day, you'll call me by my name, and the stars will fall from the sky."

Jane fiddled with her scarf nervously. "What's wrong with me...?"

"I honestly don't know. You're not sick as such, not that I can see... but there is something else. Something within you... Thor will figure it out, and then we will fix it. I promise." Wren said confidently.

"Why is it that when you say that I just believe you?" Jane asked. "I've believed everything you've told me... and I don't know why."

Wren grinned. "You remember me."

"Remember you? Remember you from when?" Jane asked.

"...Remember might not be the right word... but it's the closest there is. You know me. Your genetic make up knows me, or more, it knows who I am. Your mind remembers me, in a similar way to the way it remembers how to breathe."

"We wouldn't say we 'remember' how to breathe..." Jane said carefully. "It's an autonomic function. Something we do without having to think about it."

"Yes."

"You're saying it's an autonomic function of my brain to... to what? Trust you?"

"Something like that, yes." Wren shrugged. "I'd never seen it before, I was raise here on Asgard, and these great oaf's see the world only with their eyes. But we, you and I, we see the world with more than our eyes. My people and yours lived together for a long time, until we felt that we were hindering you. Holding you back... you had to grow on your own. Become who you were meant to be... then we could live together again. Your mind, that part of your brain responsible for making determinations of trustworthiness and honesty... it recognises me. In the same way a baby, new born, knows the face of it's mother and trusts her completely."

"... are... are you... God?"

Wren laughed and shook her head. "No! No, nothing like that... my people are the Dannan's... they live under the mountain."

"Fey..." Jane said softly. "Tuatha De Dannan! You're Fey! The old ones who live in the barrows! You're..."

"Yes..."

"But you live here, with Thor..." Jane was struggling again with concepts her scientific mind struggled with, but having met Thor she'd already been through this once and that made it easier.

"I was sent to foster here by my father, Tyr Keyturner, King of the Dannan's. I was raised here with Odin's sons."

"His sons... Thor has a brother?" Jane asked. "He never said. He never said much of anything about his family really..."

"The situation is complicated right now..."


	18. Chapter 18

Some hours later, Thor arrived to escort them up to Frigga's chambers, on the way he explained about the Aether, the terrible energy which had infected Jane's body, and that the Allfather had no knowledge of how to remove it.

"The Dannan's were lead to believe that Asgard had seen to the destruction of the Aether." Wren said somewhat disapprovingly.

"Well do I know it... as does father. He will not say as much, but there is a dreadful shame in him that his grandfather did not manage to destroy it as was written." Thor sighed. "I presume it was tried and they found themselves unequal to the task."

Wren shook her head. "Stubborn, stupid, fools. If the Aether could not be destroyed it should have been brought to us. We could have created a sanctuary for it, like the one my people live in. Seal it up, and simply leave no key. But as usual, the Asgardian belief that they are the paramount force in the universe comes back to bite the rest of us."

"Wren..." Thor rumbled. "You're finely honed prejudices are showing."

"Yes, finely honed on the whetstone of living here for a thousand years. You had best believe, brother, that when the relationship between the Dannan's and Asgard comes down to you and I... things _**will **_be different."

"Oh indeed." Thor put an arm around Jane's shoulders as she grinned back and forth at the lightly bickering siblings. "As Jane is my witness, I will defer to you in all things, and should any difficulties arise immediately admit all my faults and allow you to fix it."

"Oh shut up."

All three were laughing good naturedly when they walked into Frigga's chambers. "It is nice to see three young people in such good spirits."

"Mother, may I present Jane Foster." Thor said expansively.

"You... your Majesty." Jane said and curtsied clumsily.

"We've all heard a great deal about you." Frigga smiled and took both of Jane's hands gently. "What are we going to do with you, now?"

"Please, mother, don't set Wren off again." Thor groaned.

Wren snorted and went to the balcony to look out over the city. "What does he mean?" Frigga asked.

"He means that he'd rather not have to deal with the uncomfortable truth that I am not going to allow the Allfather to dictate the well being of the children." Wren said without looking around.

"Ah," Frigga sighed. "We all knew this day would come eventually... Are you so terribly wroth with me my darling?"

Wren turned, took two quick steps and wrapped her arms around the Queen tightly. "Never, but he values them somewhat less than his beloved horse..."

"He is what his own father made him, my darling..."

Wren smiled at Thor from where she stood in Frigga's arms. "How then do you explain the way this one turned out?"

Frigga laughed and kissed Wren's forehead. "Simply. Odin had no sisters."

Thor grinned and wrapped his arms around them both. "How difficult it must have been for him, to have no one in his life to discuss him as though her were not there."

Off in the distance through the city, there was a noise of some disturbance and the three turned to look across the balcony as smoke began to rise into the sky.

"Is that..." Wren started.

"The prison." Thor growled and began to twirl his hammer. "Stay here." He said to Jane.

"I will watch over her, go." Frigga said as she stepped back out of the way.

Wren reached up without saying a word and gripped a fistful of Thor's cloak. He looked down at her and opened his mouth to object. "Less complaining, more flying. If you think you're leaving me here, you're madder than he is." She said firmly, and Thor didn't feel the need to ask whom she was talking about. Instead he grit his teeth and launched himself into the air while she clung on to his back, and they left Frigga and Jane standing on the balcony watching.

"Will they be alright?" Jane asked.

"As long as they are together... and as long as it is just a riot..."

When Thor and Wren burst into the cell block, there was already heavy fighting. Thor barrelled in, hammer swinging and delivered a thundering ultimatum, which was completely ignored. When drew her swords and waded in more slowly, her eyes almost spinning in separate orbits as she tried to look for two faces at the same time. The first was easy enough to find. Loki had settled himself down beside the energy barrier which kept him contained, his legs stretched out before him and a book open on his lap. He glanced up at the fighting occasionally, so once she had determined he was still secure, she resolved not to look back at the cell... the last thing she needed was to meet his eyes.

The second face, hidden by a standard guardsman's helmet was harder to find in the crush, but her entrance hadn't bee quiet... "My Lady!" She heard Eric call, and made him out, down in the thick of it, his sword flashing and already smeared with blood. It was a short order to fight her way through to him. The prisoners were largely unarmed, they wielded lamp stands and torches like clubs while the guard's cut them down with steel. "You shouldn't be here." Eric hissed as she drew beside him.

"We can argue about it later." She told him as they fought.

A huge beast of a man wielding two lamp stands as though they weighed nothing. He knocked a number of guards flying and the prisoners began to rally to him, forming a strong core of resistance.

"Damn." Eric grunted. "We're losing ground here. We can't let them get out into the city. Hold fast!" He yelled the last to the men and they strove to follow the order but were being hard pressed. "My Lady, it's time for you to leave."

"Like hell."

"I said go!"

"I said no!" She was forced backwards in the fray and nearly toppled, would have fallen had Eric's arm not shot out to save her footing. "Damnit!"

"What good are you to anyone if you die down here?"

Wren glared at him defiantly for a moment. "I'll show you what good I am." She hissed. Against the wall to her left was a hanging lamp filled with oil. She sheathed her swords and reached up and unhooked it, took a deep breath, threw her head back and screamed as loud as she could manage. "**HOLD!**" Eyes turned to her in interest, but no one seemed inclined to follow the direction, until she deliberately smashed the lamp at her feet and the burning liquid wound its way up her legs and torso and out along her outstretched arms. "Get back in your cells!"

Before her, a loud mouthed prisoner said something rude and suggestive, and Eric moved to slash at him, but Wren was faster. With a sweat breaking out on her brow she pointed imperiously at the offending prisoner, and the liquid fire sprang from her arm like a snake and set him alight. The prisoner screamed and flailed around trying to gain releaf from the flames. Some of the others looked sick, while one or two of the quicker ones moved into the cells and stood against the back walls waiting...

"Get back... in your cells... or I will cleanse this place with fire." She hissed. The cold sweat on her brow, and the hollow look in her eye unnerved them so that none noticed the colour had all drained from her face, and her knee's had begun to tremble. With very few exceptions, they filed back into their cells, and the guards easily handled the rest. "Reset the cells!" She called.

The moment the barriers were back in place, Wren's arms dropped and the burning oil shed from her body like water to pool at her feet. She stumbled back against the wall, then fell to the left and vomited. The hem of one of her pant legs caught fire and Eric quickly patted it out with his hands. "My lady?" He knelt beside her and pulled her up against him away from her own sick. "What can I do? How can I help you?"

Above them, still safely in his cell, Loki was so close to the barrier he could almost feel it singing his skin. "Let me out." He commanded.

"No." Eric snarled even as he pulled off his gloves and frantically searched for a pulse. "Come on... come ON. WREN!"

"Open this cell and let me out, and I will tell you how to help her." Loki said.

"Do no such thing." Thor appeared by Eric's side and sank down to touch Wren's face gently. "She will be fine... rest and water. She has exhausted herself, nothing more. Gather her up and take her to her chambers, some of the prisoners escaped into the city."

"I should come with you," Eric started, even as his arms moved to lift Wren gently.

Thor gave him a knowing look and shook his head. "Take care of my sister." He looked up at Loki who stood calmly, all remnants of his former anger magically gone from his features. "For the record, if Loki is bargaining... it means Wren will be fine." A smug smile spread across his face as Loki continued to look at him impassively. "If she had truly needed help, he would have told you without bargaining..."

"Do you really believe that, my prince?" Eric asked. He held Wren, who trembled and dripped with sweat, in his arms.

"What soul he has left he owes to her. He would not see her harmed." Thor turned to leave.

"Stop pretending to know me so well, brother." Loki sneered.

"If you will stop pretending that I know you not at all." Thor countered.

"Did you see her?" Loki asked quietly. Thor stopped but he didn't turn around. "She was magnificent..."

Eric didn't want to watch the exchange any further and he left the other guards to go with Thor, and carried Wren up towards her rooms. Before they arrived, her eyes opened and she blinked up at him. "It worked?"

"It worked. You near scared the life out of me." He carefully shouldered open the door to her chambers and stood just inside, his eyes moving restlessly from the bed to the couch.

"There is water by the bed," Wren said sleepily. "And I though you weren't afraid of anything." She teased.

"It's a short list." He lay her gently on the bed and set about pouring her some water.

Wren glanced down at the ruined leg of her pants. "What happened there?"

"You didn't quite fall clear and they caught fire. You should check you are not burned..." He said as he handed her the water.

She made to lean forward to look and then let her head flop back instead. "Ungh, can you do it? For some reason my feet seem unbearably far away."

"You're in good humour for someone I thought might be dead twenty minutes ago." Eric tugged her shoes off gently and then her socks. When he carefully rolled up the burned leg of her pants he frowned. "It's quite red, but there is no blistering. How does this feel?" He wrapped one hand gently around the bright pink flesh.

"Cool and a little tender, but not painful."

"Good. You were lucky." He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her seriously. "That was reckless, my lady... you could have been seriously hurt, and then where would we be?"

"And they could have pushed through, out into the city... _**then**_ where would we be?" She put the water down on the side table and lay back, her expression serious. "You need to learn to trust me, Eric..."

"With my life, my lady, or anyone elses, you always show the most extreme care... but never with yours, for which you seem to have a reckless lack of concern." He reached up and smoother her hair down gently. "We can none of us be without you, you know? From the lowliest guard to the Allfather himself..."

Wren stared up at him, noting for the first time the intense blue of his eyes, and the gleaming gold of his hair. He was quite a bit older than she was, she could vaguely remember him, already well placed and respected in the guards when she was a child... Indeed, initially they had little contact. Since they had begun training together however, Wren and learned that he was an uncommonly kind man, with a surprisingly gentle nature for one whose purpose was martial. As his fingertips moved softly over her cheek, Wren started to find it difficult to breathe...

"Eric..."

"Eric!" A guardsman's head popped in the open doorway and the man looks thoroughly horrified at his interruption. "You're requested in the Queen's chambers, sir."

"What is it?" Eric asked, having yanked his hand back as though Wren were suddenly made of fire.

"I don't know sir, but there has been fighting throughout the palace, and there is still a great deal of commotion..."

Eric stood and frowned when Wren pulled herself up "What happened to 'my feet are too far away'?"

"Fighting throughout the palace, that's what. I need to check on my family." She pulled herself unsteadily to her feet.

"Your shoes?"

"With the burn I don't feel I could get them back on anyway," she waved him off.

"You said it wasn't that bad."

"It's a sliding scale. Come on." She started towards the door on trembling legs and Eric hurried to her side. "I might need you to stay close to me."

"Until the palace is cleared, you'll be attended by at least one of us at all times." Eric said firmly. "No don't argue. Your protection is my responsibility."

She held her hands up in surrender. "Calm yourself, Eric. I should be glad of the company."


	19. Chapter 19

Eric walked close by Wren, who moved barefoot through a palace buzzing with frenzied people. The closer they got to the Queens chambers, the more concerned Eric became. There were people crying, and a large number of nervous glances in their direction which filled him with trepidation.

"My lady..." Eric reached out to stop her entering, but she pulled away and went in.

Frigga lay, motionless and empty on the floor... a hateful bloom of blood on her dress. Thor stood to the side with his arms crossed and his face stony, while the Allfather knelt beside his dead wife, his expression unreadable. Wren stumbled and Eric went to catch her, but she was moving away from him so that she landed beside Frigga's body.

"Damn!" Thor hurried forward. "She can't be here, man!"

But Wren wasn't screaming. She reached out a trembling hand and touched Frigga's cheek. "No..." she breathed, and while the shaking spread to the rest of her body, there was barely a flicker in the candles to indicate that she was losing control. "Please... no..." She looked up at Thor who was watching her carefully, then at the Allfather, who seemed unable to articulate whatever it was he was thinking. "I should have stayed with her... I shouldn't have left her here. I should have been here... but I left them. I left them here alone... there was no one..."

"My lady, please." Eric tried to help her rise but she shrugged him off angrily.

"Go and tell her son." She hissed.

"Excuse me?"

"Go to the prison. Tell him. You tell him what all this scheming and madness has cost us!" She screamed shrilly.

"My lady, there is no evidence this has anything,"

"He should have been here!" She cut him off angrily. "He should have been here. I should have... Someone..." she hunched over and pressed her face into Frigga's shoulder and cried.

Thor looked around apprehensively, but it seemed, having expended so much energy in the prison, she had nothing left with which to level the city in her grief. After a time, she reached over and took Frigga's sword from where it had been laid beside her. She gripped her long brown braid in her left hand, and with the right she used the sword to roughly cut it off leaving her with incredibly scruffy short hair. "I will find whoever did this... and I will send them to face you... I swear." She lay the braid on Frigga's chest and stood slowly.

When she turned, Eric was still standing there watching her sadly. "Someone really should tell Loki." She said calmly, then walked past him out the door.

Eric looked at Thor, "what do we do now?"

"Stay out of her way... send someone to inform my brother, and make preparations... father?" Thor looked down at the Allfather, who still had not moved. He stared at the braid on his wife's unmoving chest and sighed.

"Brave daughters... you raised her too well," the Allfather whispered though his wife was no longer able to hear him.

An hour or so later, a black cloaked figure descended the steps into the prison. A guard moved to stop them, but Wren pushed her hood back enough that he could see her face. He nodded and took his position again, allowing her to pass. She walked calmly down the isle and stopped in front of Loki's cell. "You told it where to go..." She said without pushing her hood off. She didn't dare look at him, instead she stared at the junction of the energy barrier at the stone wall. "One of the guards heard you... you told him which stairs to take..."

"Go away."

"I will... I'll go away. I'll walk away from here and never think about you again." She pushed the hood off and exposed her ruined hair and pale face.

Loki stared at her, all dressed in black and with her messily cut dark hair. "There was no way to know,"

"No, there _**was**_ no way to know! A monster escaped from a cell and you never considered that it would kill on it's way to freedom? You didn't care, not for the lives it might take nor the destruction it might cause... Well you got what you wanted. It killed. It destroyed." She stepped up to the energy barrier and glared at him. "Is this the feeling you've been searching for, Loki? Do you feel righteous? Justified? Are you satisfied!"

"Leave me."

"Two people left, two in all the realms, who still loved you... and today, you killed them both..."

She turned and left without glancing back. In his cell, Loki stared after her for a long time he didn't move. Then the guard was startled by the sound of things breaking in the cell. When he ran to see, he discovered Loki, systematically destroying everything he could get his hands on. Given the situation... the guard decided to leave him to it.

Thor found Wren re-entering the palace. "Where have you been?"

"Washing my hands." She said.

"Come with me." He said nothing more, and as Wren followed him she wondered at his tension. He led her to a small room where his companion's were assembled. "The Allfather has imprisoned Jane."

"What?"

"He plans to hold her here indefinitely. The attack proves Malaketh is not dead, and he wants the power of the Aether. He means to leave it in Jane..." Thor said.

"No. It's too dangerous. Even now her body will be wasting away from the inside – it's too much for her. It has to come out." Wren said.

"We know not how... the only one who might is Malaketh, and father will not allow any dealings with him."

"We cannot let him take it either," Wren conceded. "The dark elves will seek to destroy all light... they long still for the darkness from which we came."

"Wait, we? What do you mean, we?" Thor asked.

Wren looked at him in confusion. "The elves were all one in the beginning, creatures from before time. Before light. You didn't know?"

"That the Dannan and the Dark Elves are the same people? No one knows that."

"Well... that is not precisely true. There are no Dannan left who recall the time before light. They allowed themselves to grow old and to die. The Dark Elves would not. They are afraid of change, afraid of life... we're not the same, not any more, but we came from the same place." She looked at Thor curiously. "Does that change the way you look at me, brother?" She asked slowly...

Thor blinked for a moment and then put an arm around her shoulders and tugged her against him. "Not at all."

She patted his chest with one hand and smiled up at him. "Thank you... I take all of this to mean you are not going to go along with the Allfather's wishes...?"

"Are you?" He asked.

"No. I wont allow him to hold an innocent human here against her will... at the very least, I'd offer to take her back to Earth with me. If it's unsafe, I'd arrange for her to go under the mountain... if she has to be enclosed, at least she could be at home." She frowned. "What do you plan to do?"

"We need to get her out of here. Find Malaketh and allow him to extract the Aether, once it's done, I will kill him." Thor said.

"Simple as that?" Wren said with a raised eyebrow.

"Not by half... Sif will fetch Jane... you and I are going to have to go and fetch our guide..." He gave her a meaningful look and Wren groaned.

"So much for never looking on him again..."

"Come... the rest is arranged, Sif will meet us in the great hall with Jane in an hour." He nodded and Sif slipped out into the hallway.

Wren clasped her hands together and looked around with a vague expression of sadness. She looked at Thor's companion's faces and sighed. They'd never been her friends, not really. They were kind enough to her, they loved her as Thor's baby sister, but they were never hers... Loki had been her friend, but that man had long since died. The guardsmen were her friends, and she wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye.

"You're not coming back, are you?" Thor asked quietly. "Even if we're successful..."

"No. This isn't my home. One day you will be King, and then I'm sure we will see each other again." She smiled sadly at him.

"What about Eric?"

Wren shook her head. "There's no time for goodbyes,"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it..."

She sighed. "If I thought for one moment, that what I have left to give him would make him happy... I wouldn't hesitate. But he's too good a man for that... He deserves better." She squared her shoulders. "Alright. Let's go."


	20. Chapter 20

"Can you distract the guard?" Thor asked as the went down the steps.

Wren rolled her eyes at him. "Don't be stupid." She walked over to the guard and whispered something to him. He nodded once, gave her a respectful bow, and trotted back up the steps.

"What did you say to him?" Thor asked her curiously.

"The truth, _cariad._" She told him. "I said I was about to do something with which he wouldn't want to be associated, and he should probably take a quick break now, and be seen whilst doing so."

"Isn't that dangerous? He could go straight to the Allfather."

The look Wren gave him would have withered a lesser man to nothing. "He will do no such thing. Just have faith, brother. Go fetch the beast from it's cage, I will keep watch to allay your paranoia."

Thor grumbled slightly and stopped in front of Loki's cell. Inside, his brother stood perfectly immaculate with his hands clasped behind his back. "Come to gloat, brother. Do you have a speech prepared?"

"... no more tricks Loki..." Thor levelled his brother his a searching stare, and the entire cell shimmered. The illusion fell away, and Thor could see the destruction his brother had wrought. Nothing remained intact. Desk, chairs, shelving and bed were all broken, and from the cuts on his hands and feet it seemed that Loki had abandoned magic and destroyed everything by hand. He sat against the rear wall, his hair unkempt and his clothing torn. "There is no gloating... not today."

"Have you seen what she's done to her hair," Loki asked without looking at him.

"I presume it a Dannan thing." Thor said shortly. "She lay the braid to rest with mother... vowed she'd find the one responsible and send him to face her."

Loki let out a short, bitter laugh. "I believe she will."

"Will you help us?"

Loki snorted and allowed his head to loll back against the wall. "With what? I am a prisoner, and it's been made abundantly clear that the little bird is as like to skewer me as any one else."

"She is with me. We mean to leave here tonight, but we need you to guide us."

"I thought she could leave whenever she chose."

Thor shook his head. "She can go to Earth at will, but nowhere else. Even if she could get where we need to go, she could only take one person, and I would not let her do this alone."

"You must be... truly desperate to come to me for help."

"I am offering you vengeance, which I know you crave, and afterwards... this cell. This may be your last chance to speak to Wren. She's not coming back once this is finished." Thor crouched down to be at his brother's eye level. "She will be gone, and has all but vowed not to return here until father is no longer king."

"Ha, finally lost her temper with him, has she."

"Don't pretend you feel nothing at the prospect of a hundred years or more with her in another realm! Paid court to by another man. Slowly working to forget that you were ever in her life." Thor hissed.

Loki let his head loll again so he was looking at his brother. "It seems to bother _you_ a great deal."

"In truth I know not why. Always before when we fought, I held the conviction that my brother was still in there somewhere. That you would return to us. That belief is dead. It no longer exists to protect you... if you betray me, I will kill you. I can say only that she is sad. She is broken and becoming darker by the hour... and I would not see her become you." He held Loki's eyes, unflinching.

"When do we start?"

Thor released him, and Loki took only a moment to gather his shoes and heavier leather clothing. Wren still stood where Thor had left her at the sentries post. "He didn't come back?" He asked.

"We aren't gone yet. He wont leave the prison unattended, but neither will he return while we remain." She turned and began to walk up the stairs without acknowledging Loki at all.

"She simply asked the guard to leave?" Loki asked.

"Whispered something in his ear and he just left." Thor confirmed. "I have no idea how she does it."

"Everyone loves Wren... it's always been that way."

"As you say."

Deeper into the palace, Sif waited with Jane, who was bundled up to travel. The human's eyes landed on Loki and widened. When they were close enough she hauled back a fist and punched him in the face. "That was for New York."

Loki ran his tongue along his teeth to make sure everything was in place, then he glanced at Thor with a dirty smile. "I like her."

"Come on," Thor put a hand on the small of her back and gently guided her towards the great hall.

"You're sure about this?" Wren asked.

"Unless you have a better idea." He looked at Volstagg and nodded. "Try not to hurt them..."

"Hurt them? Hurt who?" Wren asked.

"The guards wont simply let us pass, princess." Volstagg said jovially, ignorant of the look Thor had given him at the incorrect address.

"I am no princess of Asgard, and you are not going to shed the blood of my friends!"

"This isn't turning a blind eye at the prison, Wren, they aren't going to let us leave." Thor said reasonably.

Wren ignored him. "You touch a one of them, you hair little man, and I'll slit you from navel to nose." She hissed. "Stay here," She commanded when they reached the door. "Try not to be overcome by the urge to kill your people while I'm gone." She said coolly to Thor, who flinched under her angry stare as she slipped into the hall.

"I saw that coming." Loki said calmly. "Didn't you see that coming?"

"Shut up. Get ready Volstaff... whatever she believes, those men are loyal to my father, they're not going to..."

Wren opened the door and ushered them in. "Quietly. No ruse in the world will work if you wake the palace."

Inside the guards had all removed their helmet's and tossed them aside. One turned to her and bowed deeply. "We're ready, my lady."

"Thank you, Herger... do not wait. The moment we're aboard raise the alarm, I don't need you to,"

The guardsman was grinning such that she stopped talking. "Go. Kill Maleketh. We know what to do."

Wren went up on her toes and kissed him lightly. "Take care of Eric for me, wont you?"

"Not as well as you would, but the best we can." He agreed.

"Alright, into the nasty thing then." Wren pointed at the crashed Dark Elf ship which had wedged itself in.

"How in name of the nine realms did you get them to let us pass?" Thor asked.

"I asked them to, _cariad._" She said as she helped Jane over some rubble.

"But it's treason, and the guards are all intensely loyal to father."

"And to Frigga, and to you... They understand what is happening here, Thor. What we do we do as much for them as for ourselves. They know that." She smiled and tried to close the hatch behind them but it was jammed. "This thing cannot take us far you know."

"It wont have to." Loki said confidently.

"Are you certain you didn't..." Thor stopped, unsure how to express the question without being rude.

"Am I sure I didn't... what? Cast some kind of spell on them? Don't be stupid." She shook her head and looked at him fondly, but with an air of condescension one might have looking at a child. "You really don't understand do you?"

"Is it so hard to believe that she can wrap others around her delicate little fingers as easily as she does you?" Loki asked airily.

"Shut up!" Thor and Wren said together without looking at him.

"Nice to see you're getting along..." Loki muttered.

Thor took the controls and the ship shuddered to life. In turning, the long blade of the drive section took out another few columns and more of the ceiling fell in. Wren bit her lip and looked at her brother while he winced and looked resolutely ahead rather than meeting her eyes. When they finally broke free of the building the ship tumbled through the city, it's odd shape gave Thor far more trouble than he'd expected and quite a lot of damage was done to the beautiful architecture of the city.

"Are you trying to hit absolutely everything?" Loki asked.

"Loki..." Thor growled.

"No really, you should go back, I think you missed one. Perhaps I should,"

"Of the two of us, which one can actually fly?" Thor demanded angrily. A moment later the drive section swung up and neatly cut the head off a massive statue which marked the edge of the city.

"That seems to be up for debate. Also you just decapitated your great grandfather." Loki rolled his eyes. "What kind of plan was this? You have stolen the most ostentatious and obvious ship, we are never going to fit through with this," he was cut off when Wren, with a strangely triumphant expression shoved him backwards out of the hatch opening.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Thor asked.

"Rather a lot actually. Aim this thing at something in the distance and lets get moving." She laughed and hooked an arm around Jane who was leaning listlessly against a console. "It's going to be alright, just hold on to me."

Thor set the controls, then moved over and wrapped his huge arm around Wren and Jane and jumped from the ship into the tiny waiting vessel on the water below.


	21. Chapter 21

Loki had landed in a sprawling heap, and the boats pilot had left him where he feel. Thor on the other hand landed calmly and gently put Jane on a bench seat in the prow while Wren moved to the back of the boat.

"All went well?" She asked.

"As well as can be expected. One or two men came down with unexpectedly fierce hangovers and had to be sent to their chambers to recover... but no one we didn't expect." Eric said with a slight smile.

"Are you going to be alright?" Wren asked.

"Of course, my lady. It's often been rumoured that there was a touch of human in my ancestry... I'll say you asked and I couldn't refuse you." He gave her a sad smile. "It may as well be true."

"Eric..." Wren bit her bottom lip.

"Send word when you can... we worry about you." He clapped her on the shoulder.

"Goodbye, Eric."

"My lady." Eric nodded.

For a moment, Thor thought Wren would leave it at that, but then she huffed and looked up at her friend. "Just once, if you're never going to get to talk to me again... there is no one around to care... wont you just call me by my name?"

The huge man sighed sadly, then with surprising speed he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her warmly. "I will miss you, Wren... but I know you will be a great Queen..." He pressed his forehead to hers for a moment and then pulled away. "Take care of the boys. They're both of them pathetically useless without you." Without waiting for her to respond he stepped backwards off the rear of the boat and tumbled into the water.

"Someone will be along to fetch him soon." Thor said.

"I know... He's a survivor." She didn't turn around to face him. "He'll be fine."

"You seem to be just lousy with suitors these days, don't you little bird?" Loki asked from where he remained sprawled on the deck.

"What would you care?" She still didn't turn. "What have you ever cared? The Allfather was right, you are poison of the most insidious kind. The more one drinks, the blacker one's life becomes..."

"And that is all I am to you, a blackness... a shame for your past."

"Don't you dare pretend you didn't do this to yourself! To me!" She turned on him then and screamed down at him such that Thor was worried she'd draw her swords. "I did nothing shameful! Nothing! All those whispers, all those dark looks, and all I did was fall in love with a man who wasn't who he seemed to be..."

"And there it is." Loki hissed and struggled up to his knees. "_There_ it is! All your protestation, all your denials, and in the end you cannot hold it in. What I am is repugnant to you! The moment you found out..."

Wren took a step back, her head shaking, and a bitter, hysterical laugh escaped her so harshly it sounded like it hurt. "Found out... for such a clever boy, you grew into truly stupid man." She leaned over so their faces were on a level and stared at his eyes. "The morning of Thor's coronation, when the Frost Giants broke into the vault... what did I say to you? When you tried to rush off with the boys without me, I grabbed your elbow... what did I say?"

Loki blinked at her for a moment and then his mouth opened in surprise.

"When Laufey tried to assassinate the Allfather... the night you killed your true father, how did I know? Why did I run, half clothed and armed the length of the palace? Why was I so frightened, Loki?" She straightened and with an almost triumphant expression she said. "Your secret... your dark and terrible secret, the one that would change everything. The crime I would never forgive...? I have known exactly what you are since I was eight years old. Asgardian, Jotan, what matter to me, you all see the world with only your eyes. You're blind! You've always been half blind things stumbling against each other in the dark. But I always knew..."

"You... how could you never speak of it? Not even to me?" Thor asked.

Wren looked at him helplessly, and for the first time she seemed somewhat contrite. "I was a child... at first I didn't understand. Surely everyone must know? Maybe no one cared? Maybe it was impolite to mention it...? I had no way to know, so I did what everyone else did. In time I became angry. We were so close," she looked down at Loki, "we were so close and you never confided in me. This huge thing we had in common. We were both strangers here, and I was so angry at you... so hurt that you never shared it with me... eventually, a ridiculously long time later, it finally occurred to me that perhaps not everyone could see it. Maybe only a very few people knew..." She laughed and shook her head again. "I was hundreds of years old before the idea that you yourself didn't know even occurred to me... and by then, what could I say?"

Loki hadn't moved, he seemed not even to breathe. "You knew..."

"I knew when my first thunderstorm so terrified me that I ran to your room, and you sat up all night with me. I knew that day in the training room when... when you kissed me for the first time. And I knew... I knew when you slipped into my room... when..." She swallowed and couldn't continue.

"Wait." Thor was blinking like a man drunk and confused. "Wren, did he..."

She rolled her eyes and turned her back again, unable to face him. "He took nothing from me that I didn't want him to have... you're people have bizarre beliefs about such things, as though a woman becomes somehow diminished if... Just take your hand off your weapon, brother."

"You knew," Loki said again, completely oblivious to any other information. "So... you lied. On Earth, you said..."

"I never lied." She cut across him. "I never lied. You just can't accept that I never cared... I fell in love with a man, not a blood line."

"You fell in love with a monster." Loki hissed.

"That may be so... but it had nothing to do with your blood."


	22. Chapter 22

"Will you be alright?" Thor asked gently.

After her revelation, Wren had moved to the prow and refused to look at anyone... Thor had shoved Loki at to the helm and ordered him to make good on his word. This left Thor stranded on a small boat with the three most important people in his life and an unbelievably uncomfortable silence in which they all seemed to be contemplating mistakes... their own, and those perpetrated against them.

"My other choice is what? To curl up and die?" She sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to snap at you. I just... how much of this is my fault, Thor?"

"I don't understand?"

"I knew. I've always known. I should have told him, I should have found a way to bring it up. If it'd come from me, if I'd made it clear how little it mattered, we'd none of us be here." She said quietly.

"Wren..." Thor sighed and put an arm around her shoulders.

"It's not true." Loki said from the back of the boat.

"You... be silent." Thor growled.

"Odin brought her here, she was sent here by her father, to unite our realms... don't you see, brother? She was brought here for you..."

"I said shut your mouth!"

"Thor," Wren put her hand on his arm. "Don't... I think he might be right..."

"Excuse me?" Thor coughed slightly. "You can't be entertaining this."

Wren sighed. "But I am. The more I think about it, the more I think on this at least he might be right... The Allfather wants peace throughout the realms. Between the Asgard and the Danna, we could _make_ that happen, and no one would be able to stand against us."

"But we're already allies, and your people aren't interested in the other realms." Thor said.

"Oh, I know that... but what would happen if you were King under the mountain? Hmmm? You'd never wish to stay there with me, would you? You couldn't be happy there." She smiled gently at him. "And if you were my love... perhaps I would open the mountain. Bring the Dannan court to Asgard so I could be with you. He must have been so frustrated..."

"Oh yes, poor poor Odin, all his glorious plans to manipulate the children falling apart on him because you chose the wrong son." Loki snarked.

"Why would it matter to him which son you wanted?" Thor asked, his face creased into a frown.

"Because,"

"Because I don't care about this place." Loki cut Wren off when she started to answer. "There would have been no powerful joining of the Dannan with the Asgard... I'd have followed her to Earth and never looked back."

"This is madness, Wren. Father loves you." Thor said.

"And you don't think he can be calculating at the same time? That's naive, Thor." She sighed.

"I would never have allowed him to force you to wed me... you know that, don't you?"

Wren looked at him calmly for a long time. "Thor, I love you. You are my brother, and my friend... but in many ways you are just like your father._** I **_would not have allowed him to force me to marry anyone. I make my own choices, and dictate my own future. The Allfather does not have the power required to force me to do anything. How far is it to the crossing? Eric wont be able to hold them off forever." She said to change the subject.

"Not far now, up there." Loki pointed with his chin.

High up along a ridge line of grey rock, something glittered in a crevice. A thin line of dancing colours. "Really...?"

"If it were easy, anyone could do it." Loki grit his teeth and steered the boat carefully with his still bound hands.


	23. Chapter 23

Thor had covered Jane with his body, his cloak held over her head to protect her from falling bits of crystal and rock as Loki forced the boat through an opening too small for it. With a resigned sigh, Wren had turned to face Loki and raised her hood such that it protected her head, and kept the biting dust from being driven into his face by the force of their passage. There was a powerful lurch as the boat was forced through the fabric of the universe. Thor was almost flung forward over the prow, and Loki was driven to his knee's, which knocked Wren back wards.

With his hands still bound it was difficult for Loki to move, but he shuffled forward on his knee's until he was beside her and hunched over to check her neck and the back of her head. "Are you hurt?"

"Just my pride... and my ass." She grumbled and rubbed at her tender backside with one hand.

For a moment she looked up at him ruefully, her eyebrows drawn together in amusement and a smile played around the corners of her mouth, threatening to erupt into actual happiness. Loki started to return her half smile, his bound hands still hovering about her neck... the urge to brush hair from her cheek came upon him, and had her face not hardened he would have indulged it, but he could not face the possibility she would flinch from him. "The passage was smoother last time... I had a smaller vessel."

"As long as we're far enough away that luring Maleketh here will not endanger Asgard. Hide us from Hymdall's view."

"It is already done, though he will be wroth with Thor when he returns." Loki said as he struggled to his feet.

"Why so?"

Loki chuckled. "You don't recall? When you were young you spent many hours with Hymdall, you made his describe the Earth to you in detail... he adored you."

Wren blinked for a moment and then smiled. "I had forgotten... I was so homesick. Lonely." She shook hear head to clear it and squared her shoulders. "Well, Hymdall will understand."

"How exactly are you planning to pull off this little coup-de-tat?" Loki asked.

Thor looked from Wren to Loki and back again... "Well..."

Some hours later, they had abandoned the boat amongst the rocks and made their way to the lip of the dunes above a vast plain.

"Can we be sure they will come?" Loki asked.

"Maleketh can track the Aether somehow. He found it in Asgard, I believe he will find it here." Thor said.

"Are you ready?" Wren asked Jane gently.

"As I'll ever be..."

"Don't worry. We wont let anything happen to you." The women embraced and Thor glanced over at them and smiled.

"Will you at least give me a weapon?" Loki asked.

Thor's smile fell away and he looked his brother in the eye. "This may be the only chance you will ever have to do the right thing by the woman you love." He said and held out Loki's knife. "If you waste it, I doubt there is any power that can save you."

Below them, Maleketh's ship appeared as from nowhere as their cloaking technology was turned off, and the ground shook. A small party exited the craft and began to walk across the plain.

"Leave the poetry to the bards brother, you have not the mind for it." Loki took the knife. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. After a deep breath he threw a glance at Wren and huffed. "I'm sorry about this..." Lightning fast he cut Thor's right hand off cleanly at the wrist and kicked him tumbling down the side of the dune.

Jane screamed and ran after him, while Loki wrapped Wren's long dark braid around his hand and gripped her hair tight in his fist so he could march her down the through the sand. At the bottom, Maleketh and his escort of a dozen soldiers watching curiously as Loki kicked his brother in the face and sent him sprawling which Wren struggled against his grip. Her soft booted feet could get no traction in the fine sand and the black gown she wore tangled around her legs.

"NO!" She screamed.

"You can have the Aether, and my darling brother." Loki told them quite casually. "All I ask is a good seat when you destroy Asgard... and this one..." He pulled Wren back tight against his chest and sniffled suggestively at her hair.

"He was in the dungeon. He is an enemy of Asgard," The huge beast beside Maleketh said.

Wren struggled, her arms flailed ineffectually, but her eyes stared daggers at Maleketh. "You know," He said, "that your kind and mine were once the same. I would save you, give you sanctuary in the name of our kinship." He paused with a calm smile. "But your eyes suggest quite strongly that I would receive nothing more than a dagger to my back at your earliest opening for my generosity..."

"Then we have a deal?" Loki pushed.

Maleketh tilted his head to one said and contemplated him for a moment. "Agreed..." He held out his hand, and Jane, screaming, was lifted from her feet to float, eerily beautiful in the air. Swirling smoke-like energy seemed to seep from her eyes, nose and mouth to coil and writhe through the air and into Maleketh.

Loki tightened his arm around Wren's waist and pressed his cheek against hers. "Shhhh," He hissed as she tried to get free of his arms and go to Jane's aid. Loki's fingers flexed in her long hair as Jane lowered back to the ground. From off to their left, where he had been largely ignored, Thor shouted;

"NOW!"

The illusion fell away. Instead of a rough travellers cloak, Thor was fully armoured and his hand perfectly intact. Wren still stood close against Loki's chest, but the heavy, cumbersome dress shimmered to be replaced with light black leather armour and her long hair fell away to reveal the close cropped locks which stuck out messily around her head. The hilts of her swords had apparently been hitting Loki about the face while they moved, concealed by his illusion. She drew them and rolled forwards to Jane's side where she grabbed her under the arms and dragged her backwards away from the fighting.

Thor and Loki moved among them faster than Wren could easily follow. She drew both swords and handed on to Jane hilt first. "Take it."

"But I..."

"Take it!" Wren yelled. Jane complied with a trembling hand and Wren turned and ran into the fray. Her eyes fixed on Maleketh. She could see Thor and Loki, both as desperate to reach him, but they were busy with his escort and he had turned to leave. "MALEKETH!"

The dark elf looked over his shoulder at her as she charged across the sand. He gave only a disinterested sneer as he reached into his belt and tossed a small grenade in her direction. She blinked in confusion, having never seen anything like it before. "Wren! Get back!" Thor called to her as he struggled to bash his way through the huge beast, which had escaped from the Asgard prison, to get to her. The grenade gave a small pop and a large section of the earth at Wren's feet began to collapse in on itself as though it were being pulled violently into a black hole. Before she could struggle backwards, Wren felt an arm loop around her waist and she was tackled into a clumsy roll clear of the blast radius.

When she opened her eyes and blinked away the sand, Loki was half over her, propped up on one arm and looking down at her with a concerned frown. "Have a care, your Majesty." He breathed. "As I understand it, you are the only hope for those who dwell in darkness."

"Now who's spouting poetry?" she gave him a half smile and clapped one hand on his forearm. "Thank you."

He rolled off her and came to his feet. The urge to offer her a hand was strong, but she popped up quickly, and would have been insulted at the implication she couldn't rise on her own. Off to their right, Thor did battle with the great beast and was being pressed hard.

"Stay with the girl." They said simultaneously and then glanced at each other with strangely matching grins. "Stay back." Again, they spoke together, but this time to Jane, who backed away and gripped Wren's sword tightly in her inexperienced hands.

Thor mistimed a strike and the beast-man caught him up under the armpit with a heavy blow that sent him spinning into the sand. Wren called his name and charged, her body tense and low, she darted left at the last instant and made a swipe to the huge thing's side. It roared and easily deflected the blow with a massive forearm, but Loki had come in tight behind her and he broke right instead of left. With the thing distracted, Loki managed to clamber up onto it's back and hack at it's neck with his knife. Wren rolled to the side, out of the way of it's stamping feet and came up, her eyes searching for an opening.

"The belt! Wren! The grenades!" He called from his precarious perch. She darted in while the thing flailed and tried to dislodge Loki from it's back. Her deft hands filched a single grenade from the belt, though she had no idea how to use it. With one hand holding tightly to the hilt of his dagger, driven deeply into the beats neck, Loki held out a hand. "Throw it here!"

He caught her throw easily, then swung himself around until he was dangling from his dagger in front of the beast and shoved the grenade into it's mouth. Enraged, the beast pulled back its arm and before Thor or Wren could scream in horror, it ran Loki through with the short spear it held. With a despairing cry, Wren hauled him back and off the spear, while Thor shouldered the great beast hard and knocked it flying. The grenade went off inside its throat and sucked it into nothing.

Loki's weight bore Wren to the ground and she struggled out from under his with a curse.

"You damned fool." Thor growled and helped her to lay him flat.

"I'm... I'm a fool. I'm a fool..." Loki stuttered as the colour began to drain from his face.

Wren's hands moved over his chest and down to the terrible opening in his stomach, from which his blood bubbled slowly. "No... no, Loki..." She covered it with her hand and sought out his with her other. She brought it up to her face and pressed it against her cheek. "Don't... please don't do this... don't."

"I'm sorry," he gasped, his hand to weak to cup her face as he wished. "I'm sorry..."

"I'll tell father," Thor said. "I'll tell him everything. How you fought... I'll tell him,"

"I didn't do it for him..."

Wren pressed hard against his hand, and ground her face against his palm. "Please," she begged softly. "Loki please, please... don't leave me. Not again. Please..."

Loki's face became grey and his eyes glazed slightly. "I'm sorry..." The blood under her hand stopped bubbling, and the hand she clutched tightly to her face went slack in her grip.

Wren let out a broken hearted wail, and the ground began to shake.


	24. Chapter 24

Cerridwren was screaming.

Thick, heavy clouds began to form above them from horizon to horizon, and Thor looked to where Jane stood clutching the short sword Wren had given her and looking shaken and afraid. "Stay back!" He called to her.

Cerridwren was screaming.

An angry, biting wind kicked up the sand which tore at their clothes and stung their eyes. It twirled around them in wild flurries and made it impossible to see more than 50 meters in any direction. "Wren... Wren, we need to go. We have to stop Maleketh."

Cerridwren was screaming.

Beneath them, the ground shook and rocks tumbled from distant and obscured outcroppings. Then, with a sickening lurch, a rift opened up in the desert and Jane was thrown to the ground. Thor scrambled across the shuddering sand to her. "Are you hurt?"

"What's happening?" Jane called over the roaring wind.

"She's completely lost control."

"Wait.. you mean... she's doing this? Well, how do we stop it?"

Thor looked at his sister, who hunched over the love of her life. She still clutched his lifeless hand to her cheek and howled fit to burst into the rushing wind. He really didn't want to do what he was pretty sure he'd have to... With a resigned sigh he grit his teeth and began to crawl towards her across the violently shifting ground.

"WREN!" He called, but he never got to her...

The fingers of the cool hand Wren so desperately clasped to her cheek curled gently, and the illusion of a grey, lifeless Loki faded away. He tangled his fingers in her short, scruffy hair and sat up enough that he could pull her against his chest with the other arm. "You have to stop, little bird... please, stop screaming... I can't bear it..."

Wren's eyes popped open and she lost the breath to scream. With a strangled sound she clutched at his shoulders and hair, and kissed him desperately through her sobs. The ground ceased it's shaking, and the violent wind slowed, though the thundering clouds above them didn't dissipate. Thor watched them wonderingly for a few moments, and so, unlike his brother, he saw the moment when it all went south. Loki pulled back and cupped her face in his hands, he pressed his forehead to hers and would have closed his eyes to enjoy their closeness, but her shoulders stiffened and her eyes turned suddenly hard.

Without warning, she slapped him hard across the face and fell backwards away from him. "You unimaginable bastard! How could... how could you DO that to me?" She screamed, then rolled up onto all fours and vomited.

He was beside her a heartbeat later, he rubbed her back though she tried to shove him off. "Just to be clear, it turns out I _couldn't_, in fact..."

"Shut up. Just shut up. Get away from me, I swear, I'll," She scrabbled in the sand for the sword she had dropped but he stopped her. "Get off!"

"No." He picked the sword up himself and carefully manoeuvred her away from the puddle of vomit. "Can you clear the storm? We're about to get quite wet, and you're in no shape for,"

"Don't you pretend to give a _damn_ about me!" She screeched, then swooned when she tried to stand, and would have fallen had he not caught her.

"Can you stop it or not?"

"No! I can... I can barely..." She lurched in his arms and threw up again.

"Alright, it's alright." Loki looked at Thor, daring him with his eyes to comment, to suggest that he should surrender Wren up for his brother to carry, but Thor only shook his head.

"Once that much air starts moving, it is nigh impossible to stop it again. We need to find shelter." Thor said.

"Caves," Wren said between clenched teeth. "Over there." She pointed weakly and without waiting for the others, Loki began to walk that way.

"What just happened?" Jane asked as she fell into step beside Thor.

"A great many things..."

"Yeah, I got that much... are they, what I mean is, do they... you know?" She stammered.

"They have been in love since they were children," Thor confirmed quietly. "Though it was only recently either admitted it. Then the truth of my brother's parentage was revealed and he... he could not handle it. He couldn't believe she would still love him anyway. Mother believed the majority of his madness came from his fear..."

"Wow," Jane watched Loki's back as he walked ahead of them, and listened to him fielding Wren's angry bickering with a surprising degree of calm. "You know back home, everyone just sort of assumed he was, you know, evil."

"He wasn't always as you saw him, certainly he was never so in our youth."

They found the caves without difficulty at Wren's direction and stumbled inside over the uneven floor. It was gloomy and slightly damp, and Loki moved to sit on a large rock with Wren still cradled in his arms.

"How is she?" Thor asked when they entered.

"Unconscious, but her breathing and heart are strong." Loki did not look up from his contemplation of her face.

"How long would you think, before she can walk? Or fight...?"

"There is no way to know. I have never seen her do anything to equal this." Finally, Loki looked up at his brother, his expression unreadable. "She'd have shaken this world apart..." He said in an awed voice.

"With us on it." Thor nodded.

"I get that this is a huge deal for you guys, but that guy is going to like, unmake everything! We have to get out of here and," she stopped as the phone in her pocket began to vibrate and play a mildly annoying jingle. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Jane, it's Richard..._" She wandered off, talking on the phone and looked around in confusion.

"How do I have reception?"

Loki looked down at the floor and poked something with the toe of his boot. "Why are there shoes in here?" He asked distractedly.

With a triumphant cry, Jane bent down and scooped up a set of keys and held them up. "These are mine!" She hissed.

"Why would her keys be here?" Loki asked Thor, who only shrugged.

"No, no Richard, just don't hang up, OK?" Jane said into the phone as she wandered around with one hand held out in front of her, looking for the rift that would get them back to Earth. "Oh I found it! I found it! What? No, no Richard I'll ah, I'll call you back. Bye!" Jane spun and waved them over "Come on!"

"Where're we going?" Wren asked softly as she tried to force her eyes open.


	25. Chapter 25

"Home! Earth! It's just through here!" Jane said excitedly.

Wren blinked in confusion. "Have you hit your head?" She asked as she struggled to sit up a little in Loki's arms.

"No it's a... look you're just going to have to trust me, I'm telling you, London is right through here. Come on!" Jane led them deeper into the cave while Loki stood, obviously intending to carry Wren.

"Honestly, why is the floor covered in shoes?" He asked after nearly tripping on one.

"I can walk, Loki."

"Yes, you look perfectly fit and robust." Loki said sarcastically.

"Put me down!"

"I'll tell you what," he said theatrically, "when you can say that, and I feel legitimately in fear for my life, you can walk on your own. Right now you'd lose a fight with a half starved kitten."

"I'm fine, I'm awake and I'm angry so put me down!" She yelled up at him.

Thor, who hadn't said anything, moved past them to where Jane was gesturing at what seemed to be the last three feet of the cave. "We'll ah, wait for you, shall we?"

"Don't bother, I'm fine and I've got nothing to say to a lying, manipulative, evil,"

"Might be best," Loki said across her to his brother, who flashed him a quick smile that Loki somewhat shyly returned.

"Right. Five minutes, we do still have to avert universal disaster." Thor said quickly, took Jane by the elbow and they disappeared into thin air.

"Whose side are you on?" Wren screamed after them. "I swear, Loki if you don't put me down,"

Loki headed her off by placing her on the rock where he'd been sitting. "Better?"

"Shut up. Stop all of this." She waved her arms in front of her. "Stop... whatever it is you're doing now. You're, you're dead, then you're not, you're a megalomaniac and suddenly you're a gentleman? What? It wasn't enough to scare the hell out of me now you're... I have no idea what you're doing, I don't..." She stopped and took a deep breath. "You make me weak. You make me stupid and gullible and hopeless and I wont let you. Not now!"

Loki stood by quietly and let her yell at him until she eventually seemed to run out of steam, only to glare at him in irritation at his calm acceptance of her ire.

"You and I suffer from the same disease, little bird." He said quietly once the silence became oppressive. "For all this time, since I left Asgard, you refused to accept what was real... you should have killed me in New York, you know that, don't you?" He moved forward and knelt so he was looking up at her. "But you wouldn't. You should have cut me off a long time ago... but you haven't."

Wren's eyes had grown progressively wider as he spoke and she coughed incredulously. "Are you somehow trying to suggest all this, this madness, has been you trying to _**hold on to me**_? Loki, that's insane!"

He laughed and shook his head, then put on of his hands on her knee. "No. You wouldn't accept what was right in front of you... but neither did I. All this time, and I was convinced I knew better. You couldn't possibly..." he looked away for a moment and squeezed her leg gently. "The difference is of course, that as usual, you were right... I should stop pretending I can make any decisions for myself, simply do whatever you tell me..."

"You want to run." Wren said quietly. Loki's eyes popped up to meet hers. "That's why you did it, right? You wanted to run... you knew we didn't have time, we'd have to leave you there..."

"Yes..."

"So, there's no way for me to know if this little revelation of yours is genuine, or if you just had to give up on your last plan because you weren't sure Thor would knock me out before my stupid broken heart tore this planet to bits." She looked at him sadly and covered his hand on her leg with one of her own. "I don't know if I ever knew you at all. I don't know what you want. I don't understand what you're thinking... and I can't trust myself with you." She struggled to her feet and moved past him towards the back of the cave.

"We can't wait for you. And we can't stop to chase you, there's too much at stake right now." She looked at him over her shoulder where he remained crouched down beside the rock. "When the dust settles, this cave may well be gone. If you didn't make it through the rift, you must have been buried here..."

"Wren, wait" Loki started but she held up her hand to stop him.

"If it's important, tell me when we get there... if it isn't? I don't really want to hear it... in a few minutes we'll know who was right, wont we?" She turned and, still trembling violently, stepped towards the back of the cave;

and fell to her knees on the cold, wet pavement in London.

"Wren!" Thor was at her side a moment later and helped her to her feet. "Loki?"

"Give him a minute." She resolutely set her eyes on the distant skyline. She wouldn't turn round. As seconds ticked by her bottom lip began to tremble slightly, but she squared her shoulders and nodded. "We can't wait." She whispered as the first tear escaped her eye.

"Is someone else coming?" Loki asked from where he stood behind her.


	26. Chapter 26

Wren froze, her gaze still fixed on the distant sky line while Jane's hand flew to her mouth and she watched wide-eyed as Loki moved up behind Wren. He was so much taller than her that he could almost rest his chin on top of her head. "You're trembling." He said quietly.

"It's cold." She didn't look round.

"We'll be in the car," Thor said uncomfortably and he ushered Jane towards the car.

"Do we have time for this?" She hissed as he shoved her at the drivers side door. "Seriously?"

"There's more to saving the world that stopping armies of dark elves. Give them a minute."

"This isn't awkward at all." Wren said, still without turning around.

"It could be worse... at least it's not raining."

Wren chuckled softly and felt the slight pressure of his chest against her back. After a moment's hesitation, she allowed herself to lean against him. "I can't believe you came..."

She heard him chuckle softly. "Liar." He whispered into her hair.

Thor's head popped out of the widow and he looked at the apologetically. "Ah... time is becoming a factor."

With a wry smile, Loki gestured to the car and held the door open so she could slide in. Wren coughed into her hand and Loki scooted closer to her on the back seat, a concerned frown on his face. "I'm fine." She started to wave him off but he caught her hand and held it in his lap instead.

"You're pale as a ghost,"

"He's right. Is there anything we can do for you?" Thor asked.

"Normally I just sleep through this bit." She admitted. "But since that isn't really an option," she stopped as Loki scooted back to the window and tugged her down until her head was in his lap.

"Rest."

"Loki, don't get weird all of a sudden." She complained.

"Sudden, she says." Thor mumbled from the front seat and grinned when she giggled and hid her face behind her hand. Loki rolled his eyes, but his hand hovered uncertainly over her shoulder until she took pity on him and pressed it down against her arm.

The motion of the car had her nodding within a few minutes until, after a while, her even breathing told Loki it was safe for him to talk. "She can't fight like this."

"Loki..." Thor said warningly, but his brother wasn't listening.

"She's the only one who can free the Dannan from the mountain, if she dies they will be lost forever, you know that."

"I know you don't give a damn about the Dannan, or any other random genocide for that matter." Thor half turned in his seat. "You're only thinking of your own interests."

"Don't pretend for one moment that you wouldn't lock that human in a chest somewhere if it were stubborn enough to think it could fight dark elves with a sword." Loki leaned forward slightly and looked at the side of Jane's face.

"Oh hey, no, no no don't drag me into this! I'm not fighting anyone with a freakin' sword."

Loki nodded. "You see."

"Loki, you have gained more ground in the last half hour than I would have believed possible only yesterday. Try to go a few hours without doing anything stupid." Thor said.

"She can't fight. She can't even stay awake!"

"Just," Thor sighed and shook his head. "Let's just work out what we're doing. A few hours of rest and she may well be recovered enough to,"

"Enough to what, Thor? Run screaming at the man who killed our mother and get herself killed?" Loki stroked Wren's hair gently. "Why couldn't she be meek and timid...?"

"Father said the same thing." When Loki shot him a filthy look Thor held up a hand for peace. "The difference is he would actually be overjoyed if she were a coward. You would be disinterested." A slow, proud, smile grew on Loki's face. "Give her some time, she'll surprise you." Thor assured him.

"Why should she stop now."

She was still out when they pulled up in front of Jane's building. "I have her weapons if you're all right with..." Thor nodded to Wren and Loki carefully hoisted her into his arms and climbed out of the car.

"I can walk," she mumbled.

"We know," Loki didn't even look at her as he followed the others inside.

"Why are people always carrying me around?"

"Because you're small, like an infant?" Thor asked ahead of them.

"Oh shut up, sasquatch!"

"Children." Loki said in a mock-parental tone and the three of them began to laugh.

"You guys are unbelievably weird, you know that right?" Jane asked as she stuck her key in the lock and opened the door. Inside Darcy bounced up off the couch which left a somewhat befuddled looking boy sitting there staring at them.

"You're alive! Oh my God!" Darcy hugged Jane tightly. Then he hit Thor in the arm and squeaked at the burning pain in her knuckles. "Ouch! OK, so you're still all huge and stuff."

"Ah, thank you."

"And what kind of romantic shit is going on... Holy HELL it's the guy from New York!" Darcy screamed and scrambled backwards away from Loki who still stood cradling Wren in his arms. "And he's KILLED SOMEONE!"

"Darcy! Darcy it's fine, he's... he's... OK I don't know exactly what's going on there, but it's fine. Ah, Loki, you can put her on the couch over there and ah, Darcy why don't you go get some water and see if there's anything in the apartment to eat. OK? And there the hell is Erik?" Jane stammered.

"Eric?" Wren asked sleepily.

Loki glowered down at her as he lay her gently on the couch. "Your body guard isn't here. She's talking about the human."

"How quickly you go from "I am a God" to being jealous of every passing pretty face." She mumbled and tucked her knee's up close to her body.

"I am not jealous." He shrugged out of his coat and lay it over her gently then knelt down beside the couch.

"Nooo, never jealous. Is that because you're such a hot catch, or is it just that no one else would want a crazed midget with control issues?"

"Can we please go five minutes without you turning everything I say into a fight?"

"Me? ME?" She half sat up, paled and flopped down again. "I don't feel well at all," she said plaintively.

With a resigned sigh, Loki tugged her towards the edge of the couch so he could put his arms around her and kneel comfortably. "And mother always said I was the master manipulator..." he grumbled even as his hand gently stroked her hair.

"Actually, that was me." Said Thor.

"What the hell is going on?" Darcy hissed at Jane when she came back with a glass of water which she resolutely gave to Thor rather than getting any closer to Loki.

"Well... it's a bit of a long winded explanation."

The explanations were accompanied by the steady sound of Wren's even breathing. Loki refrained from comment for the most part, and stayed by her side. Thor clarified as best he could and everyone strove to keep their voices low so as not to wake her. Some hours later, after the news had shown Erik Selvig to be being held at some kind of mental facility, Wren finally opened her eyes to an almost empty apartment.

"Loki?" He sat comfortably on the floor by the couch, and raised his eyes from his book when she softly called his name. "What time is it?"

"I don't know. The other's have gone to fetch Selvig, Thor pointed out that he might not be overly happy to see me, and since someone had to stay with you..."

"I couldn't possibly be woken, I suppose?" She asked testily.

"Wren, you were half dead yesterday. If you expect to fight, which I know you do, then no you couldn't be woken." He snapped the book shut sharply and put in on the floor. "How do you feel now?"

"Better." She said confidently and sat up.

Without a change of expression, Loki handed her a glass of water and said "Prove it."

"Excuse me?"

"Prove it." He wiggled his long fingers at the glass. "Make it do something. Anything, I care not."

"I'm not going to jump through hoops for your amusement, Loki."

"You think your safety an amusement for me?" He straightened himself on his knees so their eyes were on a level and stared hard at her face. "It's hard enough to watch you march into danger as though it were nothing, but you will not do it half dead. If you expect to get out of this room, manipulate the damn water!"

Without skipping a beat she took the glass from him and upended it over his head. "Consider it manipulated. Don't you dare think that just because you seem to have been overcome with... with I know not what, that you've earned the right to turn into your father and start trying to keep me on a leash!"

"Don't you compare me to him!" Loki roared in her face, water dripping from his hair.

"Why not? You don't want me to be able to fight do you? You don't_** want **_me to recover because you want an excuse to lock me up in a box while you and Thor run off into battle. Again. Well it's not going to happen, this is my world and they are my children and I will skin Maleketh alive for what he's done!" She was screaming by the end and Loki stared at her, wide eyed and open mouthed for long, painful heart beats until neither could stand the silence any longer.

They lurched together clumsily, Wren tangling her fingers in his long wet hair, while he wrapped his arms tightly around her and crushed her against him.

"I wont let you leave me behind." Wren gasped in between their graceless desperate kisses.

"I know." He hissed. "Damn, stubborn woman."


End file.
